Abstract
The concentration of radionuclides and heavy metals in ground water from 6 wells in Makkah and 4 wells in Taif cities were me asured using high resolution ?-rays spectrometer and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), respectively. The groundwater showed levels of 0.017-0.088, 0.015-0.137, 0.020-0.102 and 0.41-1.0 Bq L-1 for U-238, Ra-226, Th-232, K-40, respectively. These results indicate that the levels of the natural radioactivity in groundwater are comparable with the corresponding values in groundwater and surface water of other countries. Radioisotope s level are much lower than the WHO, EPA and FPT guidelines. The Ba, Fe, Co, V, Zn, Se, Tl, Cd, Cr, As and Cu contents in groundwater were determined while the levels of Pb, Ni, Mg, Ag, Be and Al were under detection limits. The heavy metals content in groundwater collected from Makkah and Taif cities are much lower than those measured in groundwater and surface water of other countries and the guideline values. The hierarchical cluster analysis was performed on the available dataset of radioactivity concentrations and heavy metals content using Ward method. The overall annual effective doses (with mean of 16.5 mu Sv a(-1)) from U-238, Ra-226 and Th-232 isotopes were below WHO recommended reference level of 0.1 mSv a(-1).