Measurement of Gross Alpha and Beta Activity Concentrations in Drinking Water from Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

The gross alpha and beta activity concentrations of eighteen water samples, consisting of boreholes and Hand dug wells from Sabon Gari Local government area of Kaduna StateNigeria have been analyzed using, the potable single channel gas free MPC-2000B-DP detector. The results show that alpha and beta activity concentrations range from 0.96 × 10^-2 Bq/L to 47.00 ×10^-2 Bq/L and from 0.309 × 10^-2 Bq/L to 310.40 × 10^-2 Bq/L, for gross alpha and gross beta respectively. It is observed that in the overall samples, the gross alpha activity concentrations were below the 0.5 Bq/L maximum allowable limits for drinking water as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). However, for the gross beta activity concentration, eleven (11) percent of the samples, have their activity concentrations greater than the 1.0 Bq/L maximum allowable limits for drinking water as recommended by the WHO. This high beta activity concentration in these areas might be due to the waste generated from industries and hospitals or as a result of the nature of farming activities occurring in the areas. Largely, results obtained are seen to be in agreement with reports from other authors within and outside Nigeria.

Keywords

• gross alpha
• gross beta
• radioactivity
• borehole
• hand dug well