Radiological investigation of natural carbonated spring waters from Eastern Carpathians, Romania

The current study presents a radiological water-quality assessment on 64 spring water samples from four Romanian counties. The study area is abundant in CO2-rich spring waters consumed by locals and tourists. Gross alpha activities ranged between 21 +/- 2 and 7530 +/- 658 mBq L-1, with 27% of the samples exceeding the WHO threshold. Gross beta values ranged from 40 +/- 2 to 5520 +/- 430 mBq L-1, with 29% exceeding the recommended values. Radionuclide activities fluctuated between 0.6 +/- 0.08 and 81 +/- 6 Bq L-1 for Rn-222, 15 +/- 2 to 1154 +/- 112 mBq L-1 for Ra-226, and from 18 +/- 2 to 64 +/- 5 mBq L-1 for Po-210. The annual effective doses attributed to radium varied between 0.002 and 0.23 mSv yr(-1).

Automated summary

The current study conducted a radiological water-quality assessment on 64 spring water samples from four Romanian counties. The findings revealed that a portion of the samples exceeded the international standards for α and β radioactivity, as well as the activity of certain radionuclides. Furthermore, there was variability in the annual effective dose attributed to radium in the spring water.