Measuring the concentration of radioactive radon gas in the drinking water of the city of Hilla before and after filtering

This study focuses on measuring radioactive radon gas concentrations in drinking water and residential areas in Hilla, before and after filtration. Sixty-two of water samples has been collected, including 17 raw samples and 45 samples of drinking water, and the location of each sample was determined by GPS program. the samples sites were selected from most of the major projects and water pumping stations of the Babylon Water Directorate Central Hilla, as well as a number of residential areas using the RAD7 detector with the supplement RAD7H2O. The average concentration of radon gas of the study area in Raw water before filtering was 0.065794 Bq.L-1, while in drink water after filtering, the average concentration of radon gas was 0.068919 BqL-1. In general, the obtained values were within the permissible limits of World Health Organization (WHO), where the upper limit of radon concentration in drinking water is 0.4-0.5 Bq.L-1, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and that it is not dangerous to human life. As for the average total annual effective dose for the current study samples (raw water and drinking water.00050704 mSv.y-1), which is less than the internationally permissible limit of 1 mSv.y-1.