Abstract
In the last decade, radiation physics brought about a revolution in health science by improving scientific equipment and useful methodologies for measurement. Human beings are affected by ionizing radiations that radiate from radioactive elements. The quantity of radioactive elements is different inside and outside the earth’s surface. Soil and water are exigencies of human lives which are contaminated by radioactive elements. These radioactive elements enter into the human body through drinking, eating and breathing. On reaching hazardous limits in the human body, these radioactive elements cause stomach cancer, lung cancer and leukemia. Measurement of radioactive elements in soil and water is helpful in monitoring the health issues caused by exposure to these elements. In Iraq, numerous studies about natural radioactivity, radon concentration and physiochemical parameters have been conducted by different researchers, of which most of the studies were conducted in Barsa, Nasirya, Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad, Balad, Kirkuk, Erbil, Mosul and Dohuk cities. This article aims to review and compile the studies conducted in these cities of Iraq from 2011 to 2019. In most articles, high-purity germanium (HPGe), RAD7 and CR-39 detectors are used for radioactivity and radon measurement. These cities are located in the low-high folded and Mesopotamian zones. From this study, it can be concluded that radon concentration in soil and water was greater in the Mesopotamian and lower in the low-high folded zones. Higher concentrations of natural radioactivity in water and soil were found in the low-high folded zone in Iraq. However, most of the conducted studies show that concentrations of radon and natural radioactivity are above the permissible limits recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and World Health Organization (WHO). The values of physiochemical parameters were found to be greater in the Mesopotamian zone, but overall they are not above the permissible limits.
Research funding: None declared.
Conflict of interest: None declared.
Informed consent: Not applicable.
Ethical approval: The conducted research is not related to either human or animal use.
References
1. Frenken K. Irrigation in the Middle East region in figures AQUASTAT Survey-2008. Water Reports 2009;1(34):1–440.Search in Google Scholar
2. United Nations. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. UNSCEAR, Report to the General Assembly, with Scientific Annexes. United Nations 1996;1–77.10.18356/dba273b0-enSearch in Google Scholar
3. Hussein ZA. Assessment of Natural Radioactivity Levels and Radiation Hazards for Soil Samples Used in Erbil Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan. ARO-The Scientific Journal of Koya University 2019;7(1):34–9.10.14500/aro.10471Search in Google Scholar
4. Pulhani V, Dafauti S, Hegde A, Sharma R, Mishra U. Uptake and distribution of natural radioactivity in wheat plants from soil. J Environ Radioactiv 2005;79(3):331–46.10.1016/j.jenvrad.2004.08.007Search in Google Scholar PubMed
5. Simpi B, Hiremath S, Murthy K, Chandrashekarappa K, Patel AN, Puttiah E. Analysis of water quality using physico-chemical parameters Hosahalli Tank in Shimoga District, Karnataka, India. Global J Sci Front Res 2011;11(3):31–4.Search in Google Scholar
6. Ahmad N, Jaafar MS, Bakhash M, Rahim M. An overview on measurements of natural radioactivity in Malaysia. J Radiat Res Appl Sc 2015;8(1):136–41.10.1016/j.jrras.2014.12.008Search in Google Scholar
7. Ezzulddin SK, Aziz HH. An investigation of activity concentration of 238U, 232Th, 137Cs and 40K radionuclides in drinking water resources in Iraqi Kurdistan Region-Erbil. ZANCO J Pure Appl Sci 2017;28(6):32–40.Search in Google Scholar
8. Rejah BK, Alameer NKA, Kadim WH, Murad STM. Estimate level of radon concentration for drinking water in some regions of Baghdad City. Arab J Sci Eng 2018;43(7):3831–5.10.1007/s13369-018-3082-9Search in Google Scholar
9. AL-Alawy IT, Mohammed RS, Fadhil HR, Hasan AA. Determination of radioactivity levels, hazard, cancer risk and radon concentrations of water and sediment samples in Al-Husseiniya River (Karbala, Iraq). J Phys: Conf Ser 2018;1(1032):1–18.10.1088/1742-6596/1032/1/012012Search in Google Scholar
10. Abdullah K, Ahmed M. Environmental and radiological pollution in creek sediment and water from Duhok, Iraq. Nucleus 2012;49(1):49–59.Search in Google Scholar
11. Alasedi KK. Ground Water Quality Assessment of Najaf City, Iraq. Int J Sci Eng Res 2014;5(3):490.Search in Google Scholar
12. Bapper UH, Younis AM. Quality assessment of various bottled-water and tap water in Erbil City–Kurdistan Region of Iraq. ZANCO J Pure Appl Sci 2016;28(4):66–75.Search in Google Scholar
13. Hassan AA, Dawood AS, AL-Mansori NJ. Assessment of water quality of Shatt Al-Basrah Canal using Water Pollution Index. Int J Eng Technol 2018;7(4.19):757–62.10.14419/ijet.v7i4.19.27994Search in Google Scholar
14. Jadoon S, Munir S, Fareed I. Evaluation of drinking water quality in Erbil city Kurdistan region–Iraq. J Environ Health Sci 2015;21(5):1–11.Search in Google Scholar
15. Al-Wazni WS, Al-Fatlawy HJ. Physiochemical and bacteriological analysis of some drinking water samples in Karbala city, Iraq. Mag Al-Kufa Univ Biol 2016;8(3):27–37.Search in Google Scholar
16. AL-Dulaimi GA, Younes MK. Assessment of potable water quality in Baghdad City, Iraq. Air Soil Water Res 2017;1(10):1–5.10.1177/1178622117733441Search in Google Scholar
17. Mustafa MT, Hassoon KI, Al-Shemari HM, Abd MH. Study of the quality and validity of the water of the River Tigris (Al-Gharraf stream) within the city of Nasiriya-Iraq. Al-Kufa Univ J Biol 2018;2(10):32–41.Search in Google Scholar
18. Mahmood W, Ismail AH, Shareef MA, editors. Assessment of potable water quality in Balad city, Iraq. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering: IOP Publishing; 2019.10.1088/1757-899X/518/2/022002Search in Google Scholar
19. Al-Khashab Y, Daoud R, Majeed M, Yasen M. Drinking water monitoring in Mosul City using IoT. In: 2019 International Conference on Computing and Information Science and Technology and Their Applications (ICCISTA).Kirkuk, Iraq: IEEE; 2019;1(1):1–5.Search in Google Scholar
20. Subber A, Ali M, Al-Asadi T. The determination of radon exhalation rate from water using active and passive techniques. Adv Appl Sci Res 2011;2(6):336–46.Search in Google Scholar
21. Abojassim AA. Uranium concentrations measurement for ground water and soil samples in Al-Najaf/Iraq. IOSR J Appl Chem 2014;6(5):61–5.10.9790/5736-0656165Search in Google Scholar
22. Ridha AA, Karim MS, Kadhim NF. Measurement of radon gas concentration in soil and water samples in Salahaddin Governorate-Iraq using nuclear track detector (CR-39). Civil Environ Res 2014;6(1):24–30.Search in Google Scholar
23. Shafik SS, Ahmed BA, Mohammed M. Determination uranium concentrations and effective dose of drinking water for Nineveh Governorate—Iraq, using Kinetic Phosphorescence Analyzer (KPA). J Environ Prot 2014;5(03):200.10.4236/jep.2014.53024Search in Google Scholar
24. Najam LA, Younis SA. Assessment of natural radioactivity level in soil samples for selected regions in Nineveh Province (Iraq). Int J Novel Res Phys Chem Math 2015;2(2):1–9.Search in Google Scholar
25. Kareem DO, Ibrahim AA, Ibrahiem OS. Relationship between Radon Gas and Heavy Metals concentrations in soil of selected farms in Kirkuk City/NE Iraq. IJRRR 2019;1(10):1–10.Search in Google Scholar
26. Najam LA, Mansour HL, Tawfiq NF, Karim MS. Measurement of radon gas concentrations in tap water samples for thi-qar governorate using nuclear track detector (Cr-39). Detection 2016;4(01):1.10.4236/detection.2016.41001Search in Google Scholar
27. Mahmood MB. Estimation the levels of some heavy metals in the soil and vegetables irrigated with wells water in some agriculture fields at Al-Dora district–Baghdad. Iraqi J Sci 2016;57(3B):1918–25.Search in Google Scholar
28. Khudhur SM, Khudhur NS. Soil pollution assessment from industrial area of Erbil City. J Zankoi Sulaimani 2015;17(4):225–38.10.17656/jzs.10440Search in Google Scholar
29. Mehmedany LA, Hashim FA, Barwari VI. Adsorption behavior of copper in some calcareous soils from Duhok Governorate. Sci J Univ Zakho 2016;4(2):200–7.10.25271/2016.4.2.82Search in Google Scholar
30. Ahmed RS, Mohammed RS, Abdaljalil RO. The activity concentrations and radium equivalent activity in soil samples collected from the eastern part of Basrah Governorate in Southern Iraq. Int J Anal Chem 2018;1(2):1–11.10.1155/2018/2541020Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
31. Fawaz NI, Farhad N. A study of 238 U, 232 Th 222 Rn and 220 Rn radionuclide concentrations in Iraqi Kurdistan Soils. J Radiat Nucl Appl 2010;4:334–8.Search in Google Scholar
32. Mansour HL, Tawfiq NF, Kari MS. Measurement of Uranium concentrations in soil samples for selected regions in Thi-Qar Governorate by using (CR-39) nuclear track detector. Eng Technol J 2015;33(6 Part (B) Scientific):1127–33.Search in Google Scholar
33. Abojassima AA, Shltake AR, Najam LA, Merzaa IR. Radiological parameters due to radon-222 in soil samples at Baghdad Governorate (Karakh), Iraq. Pak J Sci Ind Res Ser A: Phys Sci 2017;60(2):72–8.10.52763/PJSIR.PHYS.SCI.60.2.2017.72.78Search in Google Scholar
34. Taqi A, Shaker A, Battawy A. Natural radioactivity assessment in soil samples from Kirkuk city of Iraq using HPGe detector. Int J Radiat Res 2018;16(4):455–63.Search in Google Scholar
35. Hashim AK, Mohammed EJ. Measurement of radon concentration and the effective dose rate in the soil of the city of Karbala, Iraq. J Radiat Nucl Appl 2016;1(1):17–23.10.18576/jrna/010103Search in Google Scholar
©2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
