engleski

Estimation of the annual public exposure to radon in drinking water in Croatia

Clean and safe tap water for human consumption is one of the important goals of the EU according to the Horizon Europe – the next EU research and innovation programme 2021 – 2027. Several recommendations, but also requirements are aimed at protecting the health of the general population exposure from radon in drinking water. The EURATOM Drinking Water Directive sets a parametric value of 100 Bq/l for radon in drinking water. Radon (222^Rn) is a naturally occurring radioactive noble gas with a half-life of 3.82 days. It is formed by radioactive decay of the parent nucleus radium (226^Ra) in various geological structures (both rock and soil) where it is naturally present in different concentrations and enters the water pathways by dissolving in groundwater that surrounds various geological structures. Thus, dissolved radon in water is introduced indoor by the water supply network and as such is one of the sources of indoor radon. Radon dissolved in water turns into the gaseous phase when the water is used in activities associated with water being heated or aeriated - such as boiling, showering, bathing and toilet flushing. Exposures to radon mainly comes from inhalation of radon and its progenies within human respiratory system, while ingestion of water deliver radiation dose to the stomach which is the main focus of interest in this work. During the last ten years several hundred water samples were carefully sampled across the whole territory of Croatia mostly from public water supplies during the targeted measurements of the indoor radon concentration in dwellings, schools and kindergartens. Some of the water samples were gathered from private wells, natural springs as well as commercially available bottled water. The radon activity concentrations in water samples were determined by using two different methods: liquid scintillation method (LSC TriCarb 2900) and/or emanometry method (AlphaGUARD + AquaKIT). In this work results of radon concentration measurement are given and effective dose of ingestion are calculated for adults and children respectively. All measured 222^Rn activity concentrations in water samples gathered from the public water supply were below the European Commission recommendation reference level for radon in drinking water.

Radon ; Drinking water ; Effective dose

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