High U-contents observed in some drinking waters of Punjab, India

Uranium estimation has been carried out for some water samples collected from Bathinda and Amritsar, which are cities of the Punjab state, India, by using a track etch technique. The range of U-concentration present in water samples taken from Amritsar was 17.87 ± 0.18 to 20.23 ± 0.20 ppb while that in Bathinda samples was 11.71 ± 0.15 to 113.70 ± 0.46ppb. The daily intake of uranium by the population through drinking water has also been assessed. The high U-concentrations observed in the Bathinda area suggests that this area might warrant further investigation for uranium exploration purposes as well as for its potential health hazard effects.