Natural Radionuclides in Bottled Mineral Waters Consumed in Turkey and Their Contribution to Radiation Dose

Evaluating boron levels in Turkish mineral waters: a comparative study of three analytical techniques

Turkey is abundant in natural mineral water sources, thanks to its location on the Alpine-Himalayan belt. Natural mineral water is drinking water characterized by its natural mineral, trace elements, and carbon dioxide content. Because of quite insufficient data, the boron content in bottled natural mineral waters in Turkey was analyzed by three different methods and compared: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry technique, carminic acid, and azomethine-H methods, in this study. The boron levels in mineral waters ranged from a minimum of 0.05 mg/L to a maximum of 8.61 mg/L. It was also safe by the upper limit level estimated by the World Health Organisation. As boron plays a beneficial role in human physiology, consuming natural mineral water may offer a positive contribution to public health by supporting boron intake in our country. The other outcome of our research was that the spectrophotometric carminic acid method can yield results similar to those obtained using the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry technique since the boron level of Turkish mineral water was within the limits level of the carminic acid method. However, the result of the azomethine-H method was found not to be suitable. Cross-sensitivity with other elements in mineral water might have caused this.

Assessment of internal radiation exposure caused by radon in commercially bottled spring waters consumed in Turkey

The variation of dissolved radon levels in water supplies remains of interest since radon ingested through drinking water can give considerable radiation to the lining of the stomach. This study aims to determine the radon concentration levels in bottled spring drinking water (BSW) brands commercially sold in Turkey using a radon gas monitor and to assess the internal radiation exposure caused by the ingestion and inhalation of radon. The activity concentrations of radon analyzed in 77 BSW brands varied from 7.1±0.8 to 28.7±2.7 mBq/L with an average of 15.7±5.1 mBq/L. The total annual effective dose was estimated to assess the radiological risk for three age groups in four different scenarios based on annual drinking water intake. All estimated dose values are well below the recommended reference dose of 100 µSv for drinking water. Therefore, radon gas in the investigated BSW samples poses no significant radiological risk to the public.

Measurement of radium and radon gas in bottled mineral waters

In this study, the radon gas and radium concentration in the bottled mineral water samples was measured. A total of sixty samples were collected from bottled mineral water sold in the markets in Kahramanmaraş. DURRIDGE Rad7 electronic radon detector was used for measurements. Radon and radium activity amounts range from 33.50 ± 1.30 mBq/L to 51.70 ± 2.20 mBq/L, and 2.92 ± 0.15 mBq/L to 4.51 ± 0.26 mBq/L, respectively. Average radon and radium active amounts are 41.67 ± 1.54 mBq/L and 3.63 ± 0.18 mBq/L, respectively. Total annual effective dose values were calculated for these mineral waters according to three different scenarios. In the first of these, it was assumed that natural mineral water was consumed annually instead of 730 L of drinking water (S1). In the second case, 150 L which was the annual average amount of natural mineral water consumed in European Union member countries was used for the annual average amount of natural mineral water consumed by adults (S2). Finally, the annual average amount of natural mineral water consumed in Turkey, 14 L, was used for adults (S3). For scenarios (S1, S2, S3), the total (ingestion + inhalation) annual average dose values ranged from 6.83E-04 mSv/y to 1.05E-03 mSv/y, 1.40E-04 mSv/y to 2.17E-04, and 1.32E-05 mSv/y to 2.03E-05 mSv/y, their average values were 8.49E-04 mSv/y, 1.75E-04 mSv/y, and 1.64E-05 mSv/y, respectively. The total effective dose values calculated within the scope of the current study were below the limit value announced by WHO.