TITLE:
Environmental Impact Assessment of Natural Radioactivity, Heavy and Major Metals in Primary Schools’ Drinking Water
AUTHORS:
Amal Hussain Al-Ghamdi
KEYWORDS:
Heavy Metals, Major Elements, Radioactivity
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.7 No.9,
September
20,
2019
ABSTRACT: Measurement of natural radioactivity levels of major and heavy metals concentration was carried out for water samples collected from primary schools in Jeddah
city, Saudi Arabia. The estimations were done for two different age groups, children (students 7 - 12 y) and adults (teachers and workers > 17 y) at the schools. The chemical analysis was performed by an
Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) and a
high-resolution HPGe detector was
used for the natural radionuclides measurement. The obtained results for the
heavy metals (Fe, Cu, and Zn) and major and heavy elements (Na, K, Ca and Mg)
concentrations in all water samples did not exceed the limits of WHO, EPA and TSE-266 guidelines for
drinking water. Only Pb exceeded the safe limit. Generally, heavy metals and
major elements’ concentrations in water samples were
found decrease in sequence of Ca > Na > Mg > K > Zn > Pb > Cu > Fe. The radioactivity
concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in all studied samples were below the permissible safe
limit value. The total average annual effective doses of (226Ra + 232Th + 40K) radionuclides were 0.259 mSv.y-1 for the children and 0.112
mSv.y-1 for adults, which are below the recommended annual dose
level 1.0 mSv.y-1 as reported by WHO (2006). The present drinking waters are high quality waters and safe in terms
of natural radioactivity and the results of the HQ values for the individual
heavy metals showed that there was no health risk for humans due to consumption
of these waters.