Re: H-3 and C-14 values in groundwater and drinking water

[Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 11:47 24.07.1998 -0500, you wrote:
>I am trying to find values for C-14 and H-3 in groundwater and/or drinking
>water in the United States.  I would appreciate if anyone could give me
>typical values and/or a good reference for these values.  Thanks.
>
>Reply to dsimpson1@unl.edu
>--------------------------------------------------------

Hi,

I cannot help you with direct typical values in the USA, but in Europe
(Austria) the levels of tritium in drinking water, in ground and surface
water are in the range of about 2 Bq/l. In areas where most of drinking
water originates from water melted from glaciers, it is a little higher,
because the older ice masses contain more tritium from the atmospheric
nuclear tests of the fifties and sixties. In ground water much depends on
the hydrogeology. I would expect that values should be quite similar in the
US, also depending on local circumstances and hydrogeology.

Concentrations in the southern hemisphere are much lower, because most of
the atmospheric nuclear tests have been conducted in the Norther Hemisphere
and there is little exchange between Northern and Southern Hemisphere.

This applies only to areas uneffected by nuclear power plants. In one small
river, into which a Czech nuclear power discharges, we have in the order of
15 Bq/l of tritium. 

The maximum permissible concentration is according to Austrian law 37 000
Bq/l of tritium. There is a European Union proposal of a MPC of 100 Bq/l in
discussion. 
Franz Schoenhofer
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-495 53 08
Fax.: same number
mobile phone: +43-664-338 0 333
e-mail: schoenho@via.at

Office:
Federal Institute for Food Control and Research
Department of Radiochemistry
Kinderspitalg. 15
A-1095 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-40 491 520
Fax.: +43-1-40 491 540
e-mail: schoenhofer@baluf.via.at