All drinking water and food products in the human diet contain radionuclides. Levels of radioactivity in food and drinking water are rarely a health concern in Australia, and food and drinking water can be monitored to confirm safety. Australian and international organisations have established evidence-based guidelines to protect people from contaminated foods and drinking water and to ensure that consumers can be confident that food and drinking water supplies are safe.
Drinking water
For drinking water, radionuclides can be absorbed as the water passes over or through rocks and soil. In most situations anthropogenic radiation is only present in small amounts.
| Location | Yallambie (VIC), Greater Perth (WA), Cockburn Sound (WA), Gladstone (QLD), Darwin (NT) |
| Sampling Date/s | Ongoing |
| Sample Types | Drinking water |
| Monitoring Objective/s |
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| Method of Analysis |
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Minimum detectable activity concentration (<x): the true activity concentration is estimated to be less than x with 95% confidence. The reported uncertainty is an expanded uncertainty calculated using a coverage factor of 2. | |
Food
Many factors influence the concentration of radionuclides in food, including their physical and chemical properties, abundance in the environment, biological uptake from the environment and how the food is cooked and prepared for consumption. Although most radionuclides consumed in our diet are of natural origin, some artificial radionuclides are present in the environment due to human activities.
