A survey of gross alpha and beta activity concentrations in groundwater from Katsina area of Northern Nigeria

Stratified sampling procedure was employed to collect a total of 40 samples; 2 from each stratum, measuring an approximate dimension of 3.25 km2 of the actual sample site. Appropriate volumes were then evaporated and transferred into clean stainless steel planchets (ISO 9696 and ISO 9697). An eight channel gas-flow proportional counting system connected to a microprocessor loaded with a spreadsheet programme (Quarttro-Pro) and graphic programme (Multiplan) initially calibrated for efficiency was employed to count the background and the prepared samples. A mean efficiency of 33.44 and 41.24 % for the respective alpha and beta sources was obtained. A low background activity was also observed with a mean of 0.165 Bq for alpha and 1.119 Bq for beta. The gross alpha and beta activity concentrations in the water were found to range from 80 ± 0.05 to 2300 ± 0.41 Bq m−3 and 120 ± 0.08 to 4970 ± 0.78 Bq m−3, respectively. This clearly indicate areas of elevated alpha and beta activity concentrations of 37.5 and 47.5 %, respectively when compared with the International Commission for Radiological Protection (1991) maximum acceptable values of 500 Bq m−3 for alpha and 1000 Bq m−3 for beta.