  The quest for a better understanding of the cancer risk associated with
drinking the radium-contaminated groundwater of the Disi Aquifer in Jordan has
become more urgent in recent years. To quantitively identify the health
consequences attainable from the consumption of this groundwater source,
internal dosimetry analysis was performed with emphasis on doses deliverable to
bone surfaces. Moreover, the age-dependent dose calculations performed in this
study show that the most critical group is those who are below the age of 15,
where we predict an increase in the risk of cancer by up to a factor of 5 as
compared to adults. It is also demonstrated that radium radioactivity remains
relatively constant in the bone even 10 years after ingestion. The whole-body
dose analysis concluded that it is a factor of 5 higher than what the WHO
recommends as a limit.
