URANIUM CONCENTRATION IN BOTTLED WATER IN CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO: HUMAN HEALTH IMPACTS

The uranium in the earth crust is mainly leached by water and reached into aquifers, where it is mixed with the groundwater. The intake water is the main responsible of human ingest of total uranium. The Chihuahua City is located in a semiarid region, where the water supply is obtained mainly from aquifers. Nowadays, that groundwater is extracted from deeper areas, making that the quality of water shows high concentration of natural pollutants, as some radioactive elements such as uranium. The goal of this work was to determine the total uranium concentration in bottled drinking water from local establishments of Chihuahua City. Fifteen bottled water samples were obtained from random establishments of Chihuahua City. The uranium was extracted using a radiochemical method with organic solvent. The specific activity was measured by liquid scintillation spectrometry, using a portable detector TRIATHLER, HIDEX OY. The total uranium concentration in water ranged from 0.076 to 0.835 Bq L^-1. About 13% of the analyzed samples exceed the limit concentration of 0.56 Bq L^-1 allowed for gross alpha emitters by Official Mexican Norm. For the above mentioned, it is necessary to implement a new system for water purification in local establishments, which can mostly eliminate any radioactive minerals before bottling the water for human consumption.