A Survey of Uranium Concentration in Drinking Water in Shiraz and Assessment of its Related Effective Dose

Uranium may be found in the environment as a result of leaching from natural deposits release in mill tailings, emissions from the nuclear industry, the combustion of coal and other fuels, and the use of phosphate fertilizers that contain uranium. In this study uranium concentration in drinking water of Shiraz City was measured and its related effective dose was assessed. Uranium was measured using a laser fluormeter (Scintrex UA-3) with minimum detection limit of 0.05 μg/l.. Altogether sixteen drinking water samples from different areas of Shiraz were collected. The average results of total uranium concentration in Shiraz drinking water was found 2.765 μg/l. The average annual effective doses received by adults, children and infants from 238U activity in drinking water were in the range of permissible level of exposure.