Radiological safety assessment of packaged bottle drinking water in India – Age dependent analysis

Radioactive radon ( 222 Rn) concentrations in 121 different brands of packaged bottle drinking water (PBDW) samples from different states of India have been assessed in the present study using a potable AlphaGUARD radon monitor along with AlphaGUARD aqua kit. Among the collected samples, the production sites of 72 number of PBDW samples are different places of West Bengal and the remaining 49 samples are different places of other different states of India. Thus, assessing the radon levels in different brands of packaged drinking water that are accessed from most parts of India gives a general picture of the 222 Rn concentrations in packaged bottled drinking water throughout India. Measured radon concentration levels vary between 0.19 and 5.81 Bq/l with an average value of 1.36 Bq/l. Radon concentration of no sample has exceeded the WHO, IAEA and EU Commission prescribed reference level of 100 Bq/l or even USEPA's proposed MCL (11.11 Bq/l). The measured radon concentrations of the collected samples manifest no significant correlation with either Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) or pH values of the samples. Annual effective dose (AED) due to radon from these bottled drinking water for three age groups namely infants, children and adults are found to vary between 0.66 and 20.00 μSv/y with a mean of 4.68 ± 0.29 μSv/y, 0.82–25.00 μSv/y with a mean of 5.84 ± 0.36 μSv/y and 0.73–22.30 μSv/y with a mean of 5.21 ± 0.32 μSv/y respectively. Assessment of dose shows that total annual effective dose to the children is the highest among the age groups. No sample has exceeded the WHO, ICRP and the EU commission proposed reference dose limit of 100 μSv/y.