Water and isotope exploration

The United Nations has recognised clean water as an essential human right. And yet a large proportion of the world’s population has to live with impaired water on a daily basis. This can mean unsuitable drinking water or compromised surface water sources – in other words, polluted rivers, lakes and oceans. This affects not only humans, but all forms of life.

Water sources can be polluted by heavy metals, complex organic compounds such as petroleum by-products or pharmaceuticals, radioactive isotopes and trace elements. The movement of these pollutants through aquatic systems depends on how water-soluble they are and how strongly they can bind with fine particles (also known as ‘scavenging’). In this way, some pollutants can travel great distances from their source, while others are rapidly bound.

Huge efforts are being made to improve critical waters. Progress has already been made. The IAEA uses nuclear and isotopic instruments to study the movement of pollutants in water and to measure water quality. It works with stable isotopes and radiotracers to study the flow of groundwater into lakes, rivers or the sea and to better understand the transport pathways of pollutants. This helps Member States to prevent and mitigate pollution events.