Radiological characterization of drinking waters in Central Italy

Due to the importance of water in human life, its quality must be strictly controlled; for this purpose, simple and reliable analytical methods must be available. In this study, a monitoring of radioactivity content was performed in tap waters collected in a region of Central Italy to check the compliance with recent European and Italian regulations. Gross alpha and beta activities, 238U, 234U, 226Ra, 222Rn, and 3H concentrations were measured. Gross alpha and beta activities were determined by standard ISO 9696 and ISO 9697; for 226Ra, 222Rn and 3H determination, liquid scintillation was used. 238U and 234U concentrations were determined by alpha spectrometry after separation from the matrix by extraction chromatography and electroplating. The results revealed that the tritium concentration was always lower than 6.75 Bq l− 1. The concentrations (mBq l− 1) of 226Ra, 222Rn, 238U, and 234U ranged from < 1.70 to 15.31, from 0.69 to 20.3, from 0.65 to 48.77, and from 0.78 to 51.50, respectively.234U/238U ratios were higher than 1 in most cases. The results obtained revealed that, in most samples, gross alpha and gross beta were lower than the parameter value indicated in the international regulations. An attempt was also made to find a correlation between these results and the chemical parameters of waters.