Uranium contamination in drinking water and foodstuffs in Bahi District, Central Tanzania
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Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
JCEE
Abstract
A field survey was conducted in Bahi District in Central Tanzania to investigate uranium
levels in drinking water and to evaluate its contamination in some foodstuffs as proxy to
their safety for human and animal consumption. Regularly consumed cereal grains,
cassava leaves, salt, soda ash, catfish, flamingo meat, surface and underground waters
were randomly sampled in the district and analyzed using inductively coupled plasma -
optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The study found extremely high levels of
uranium in surface and underground waters of up to 1233µg L-1
, a value that exceeds the
World Health Organization standard of 30 µg L-1 by a factor of 41. Soda ash, which is
locally consumed and some is exported, had a very high value of 1910 µgU kg-1
. Finger
millet grains, catfish and flamingo had 32, 17.98 and 31.78 µgU kg-1
, respectively, values
that were higher than the natural background level of 14 µgU kg-1 found in some common
foodstuffs by the European Food Safety Authority. It was concluded that drinking water
and consuming foodstuffs with high levels of uranium is endangering human and animal
life in Bahi District. This may cause leukemia, brain disorder, kidney failure, lung
damage and/or bone cancer. The public should therefore be informed about this risk and
relevant authorities should undertake regular screening of food products from the
affected district as a mitigation measure to avoid health problems in future.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Foodstuffs, Soda ash, Tanzania, Uranium, Water