The Annual Amount of Radon Radiation from Drinking Water Sources in Children and Adults in Roudan county, Iran

Radon is a major source of natural radiation in water, soil, and air. Natural sources of radiation are major contributors to the radiation humans and other living beings receive. This cross-sectional study was conducted on drinking water sources of three cities and 18 villages of Roudan county in 2021. The measurement of radon concentration in the collected samples was performed using the RAD7 device. In the studied water sources, the highest and lowest radon concentrations were 11.00 ± 2.09 and 0.95 ± 0.23 kBq/m3, respectively. The average radon concentration was 4.98 ± 0.76 Bq/L which was lower than 11 Bq/L (the EPA level recommended for drinking water). The mean annual effective dose of radon, due to direct and continuous water intake for adults and children was 48.01 ± 11.56 and 65.86 ± 15.86 μSv/y, respectively. The results of this study showed that radon concentrations in two regions of Roudan county were higher than the allowed World Health Organization (WHO) concentration and people who normally use these resources for drinking during the year are exposed to abnormal radiation levels.