Sensitivity and Precision of Determination of 210Pb in Groundwater

Monitoring of 210Pb in groundwater of high radon content is of great interest due to its high radio toxicity. Sensitive and reliable radio analytical methods are required. Due to the complexity of 210Pb determination, quality management of the analytical data has to be established to ensure the method validation prior to its application to unknown samples. This requires the quantification of the accuracy and precision of the analytical method. However, performances of two existing methods, with little modifications, are examined against standard solutions to ensure validation. The obtained results of the examined methods indicated accuracy levels within ± 22% and precision ranged from 17 to 6% for low and high activities, respectively, in the examined activity range (0.064 to 0.519 Bq L-1). These results are convenient to meet the regulation limit value (0.1Bq L-1) of 210Pb in drinking water. The obtained results are submitted and discussed in detail.