Re: uranium in drinking water

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

Just a thought on this topic--as uranium is more soluable as a
carbonate, a water softener might remove enough to bring the levels down
to acceptable drinking water standards.  That would be a fairly cheap
fix.

> >the total alpha was measured at 882 pCi/L with no indication of the 
> >method used for this analysis
> 
> I recall, that U-238 and U-234 activity concentrations are usually equal. I
> can hardly imagine any process that would disturb equilibrium when leaching
> the isotopes from the ground rock or soil.
> 
> Nevertheless I repeat that I would not use such water as a permanent source
> of drinking water. This does not imply that I think that any of the symptoms
> described can be attributed to high uranium concentrations - I would rather
> accept kidney disorders due to the chemotoxicity of uranium.
 
-- 
.....................................................
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
                       -----                       
The LOC newsletter "Insights" is posted on our Web site
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