Water must meet certain criteria for it to be considered safe for drinking. Fifty (50) samples of borehole water were collected at random from Zaria and its environs in Nigeria. Some of the physical parameters were measured using thermometer, pH meter and conductivity meter. Investigation of total alpha and beta radioactivity was carried out using eight channel gas field detector with lead thickness of 10 cm and window diameter of 55mm. the mean temperature, pH, conductivity and total dissolved solids value found in the water samples were 32.9°C, 6.5, 223 μS/cm and 149ppm respectively. The analysis of gross alpha and beta radioactivity concentrations in the Samples showed that the minimum alpha and beta activity concentration observed was 0.0023±0.001Bq/l and 0.037±0.001Bq/l respectively and the maximum activity concentration for alpha and beta observed was 5.79±0.038Bq/l and 5.28±0.23Bq/l respectively. The geometric mean for alpha and beta radioactivity measurements made was 0.1±0.002Bq/l and 0.3±0.003Bq/l respectively. Physically, all the samples met the recommendation for good water quality. However, in some of the samples had alpha and beta radioactive concentrations above the set values recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
