HR: 1340h
AN: H53A-1197    [Abstracts]
TI: Natural Radioactivity in Groundwater from the Negev, Israel
AU: * pery, N
EM: peryn@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
AF: Department of geological and enviromental sciences , Ben gurion university of the negev, P.O.B 653, Beer sheva, 84105 Israel
AU: Vengosh, A
EM: Avnerv@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
AF: Department of geological and enviromental sciences , Ben gurion university of the negev, P.O.B 653, Beer sheva, 84105 Israel
AU: Haqin, G
EM: Gostavu@soreq.gov.il
AF: Soreq nuclear research center, Yavne 81800, Yavne, 81800 Israel
AU: Paytan, A
EM: apaytea@pangea.stanford.edu
AF: Department of geological and enviromental sciences Stanford university, Broun hall, CA, 94305-2115 United States
AU: Elhanani, s
EM: sarael1@water.gov.il
AF: Water commition, Hamasger 14 P.O.B 20365, Tel aviv, 61203 Israel
AU: pankratov, I
EM: irenap60@water.gov.il
AF: Water commition, Hamasger 14 P.O.B 20365, Tel aviv, 61203 Israel
AU: Broshi, L
EM: N.A.
AF: Soreq nuclear research center, Yavne 81800, Yavne, 81800 Israel
AU: Yungreiss, Z
EM: N.A.
AF: Soreq nuclear research center, Yavne 81800, Yavne, 81800 Israel
AU: Gazit-Yaari, N
EM: N.A.
AF: Soreq nuclear research center, Yavne 81800, Yavne, 81800 Israel
AB: As most of the groundwater basins in the Middle East are being diminished or contaminated, exploitation of the deep aquifers referred as the "Nubian Sandstone" from the Paleozoic and Lower Cretaceous sandstone units is increasing. In many basins across the Sahara and Sahel regions, the Arabian peninsula, Gulf States, Jordan, and Israel the fossil groundwater are the only available water resource. Natural radioactivity is an important water quality factor of groundwater from this aquifer.Systematic analyses of radium isotopes ($^{226}$Ra,$^{228}$Ra,$^{224}$Ra,$^{223}$Ra) in over sixty groundwater samples from the Negev and Arava Valley, Israel, reveal that a large number of the pumping wells exceeds the international drinking water regulations as regulated by the USEPA and the European Community (EU). In the Lower Cretaceous Nubian sandstone (Kurnob Group) aquifer 26 out of the 29 (90%) investigated wells are having radium activity above the EU and the EPA regulations. Excluding the activity of the shorted-live $^{224}$Ra isotopes (half life of 3.6 days) the fraction of wells with activity above the EU regulation reduces to 79%. In the overlying Upper Cretaceous carbonate (Judea Group) aquifer the numbers of wells with activity exceeding the EU and EPA drinking regulations are 9 (39%) and 11 (48%) out of 23. In the carbonate aquifer we observed a linear correlation between $^{226}$Ra activity and salinity whereas in the sandstone aquifer the $^{228}$Ra isotopes is predominated and no relationship with salinity was found. Our results clearly indicate that high activity of radium, even low saline groundwater, play a key role in exploitation and water utilization for domestic and agriculture applications.
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 1831 Groundwater quality
DE: 1884 Water supply
DE: 1894 Instruments and techniques
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting