Use of radium in studying water resources in Shanafiya-Samawa areasouth Iraq

Abstract

The water resources, Groundwater and surface water, in Shanafiya – Samawa
area- southern Iraq were investigated using radium-226. The study examines the use
of radium as tracer whether saline surface water (Sawa Lake) seeps and interacts
with water of the Euphrates River and where groundwater interacts with surface
water, Euphrates, Atshan River and Sawa Lake. As well as examine the radiological
doses caused by consumption of these waters. Thirteen water samples were analysis
for radium-226 content by precipitation with barium carrier by using gamma
spectroscopy based on hyper-pure Germanium with efficiency 30%. The result
shows that Sawa Lake contains radium concentration higher than that of
groundwater and other sources of surface water. The high value of Ra in the Sawa
Lake can be related to the high salinity. Groundwaters generally have Ra
concentrations that broadly correlate with salinity or with total dissolved solids
(TDS). The radium content in the different water depends on the hydrochemistry of
water especially chlorine and TDS. The radium contents accumulate as clusters in
different groups when plotted with chlorine and TDS which reveals no intermixing
between the different water resources. While the relatively high concentration of Ra-
226 in Sawa Lake may be caused by accumulation of Ra by maxing with
groundwater according the hypotheses that states: in high salinity water system the
dissolution of radium increases and accumulates in the solution. While low Ra-226
concentration in river water reveals that no intermixing has occurred between
groundwater and river water. The annual effective doses due to ingestion of
groundwater and river water in the study area were estimated to be less than the
values recommended by IAEA and WHO.