Radon in water in the qanats of the Province of Shahrood

According to WHO statements, radon is the second most important cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking. Thus, it is mandatory to evaluate the radon indoor and radon in water concentration in areas where there is a large population. Few studies were performed on this topic, apart from those concerning the Province of Ramsar (a northern coastal city in Iran), which has some of the highest levels of natural radiation measured to date.For these reasons we are performing within a larger research study on qanats a specific study on radioactivity in drinking water coming from the qanats of the province of Shahrood. The very first results obtained are really encouraging: we sampled the water coming from some qanats near Shahrood, Torud and Biarjomand and the concentration levels are very low and do not represent any hazard for the population. More measurements will be done in the next future also in other drinkable water supply systems.