Abstract
The public health code, including the Ministerial Decree of 11 June 2007, set four indicators to evaluate the radiological quality of drinking waters (α gross activity, β gross activity, tritium activity and total indicative dose), as well as guide values and quality references. All of the data from the monitoring show that while the radioactivity of the natural origin course remained constant over time, the levels of radioactive contamination of the Rhône from artificial sources declined sharply from the early 90s, i.e. 10 to 100 times following radionuclides. The data also emphasise that no threshold activities for α global, β global and tritium was exceeded in filtered water of the Rhône. The total indicative dose (TID) remained below 100 μSv/year. TID quantification from water samplings in 2011 in the downstream part of the Rhône River (BRL channel), Orb river and Hérault river are all far below the quality references. The contribution to the TID of artificial radionuclides detected in these water systems was shown to be negligible (<0.01%). © EDP Sciences, 2014.