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Re: Radiation filtering proposed for water
Actually, I am not convinced with the 15 pCi/l gross alpha screening
limit. This is of course not including uranium or radon or their
daughters (as far as I know). How could we measure gross alpha without
isolating these radionuclides. I have looked into the EPA old standard
procedure (evaporation technique and using proportional counters)!! but
could not get it. Will any of the radsafe folks explain this to me.
Thanks.
Susan L Gawarecki wrote:
>
> Radiation filtering proposed for water
> (Washington Post, March 11, 2004)
> Option favored for subdivision
>
> Charles County officials proposed a solution this week to eliminate
> radiation from the Chapel Point Woods community water supply by
> installing a pressurized filtration system.
>
> In a meeting Monday night at the Bel Alton Volunteer Fire Department,
> the Charles County Board of Commissioners discussed the radiation
> problem in the 95-house subdivision with officials from the Maryland
> Department of the Environment and the county health and public utilities
> departments.
>
> In February, the Department of the Environment sent commissioners a
> letter outlining three options to clean the water, which has tested
> about three times above the federal standard for gross alpha radiation.
> The options included drilling a new well, using an ion exchange system
> that feeds sodium into the water and precipitates impurities, or
> installing the reverse osmosis filtration system.
>
> "Because of the uncertainty of drilling the well and because of the
> problems of adding sodium or salt to water, which causes other health
> risks in cases, we've decided that the surest bet is the reverse
> osmosis," said commissioners President Murray D. Levy (D-At Large).
>
> Residents of Chapel Point Woods were first alerted to the elevated
> radiation levels in October. But the cause of the radiation, which comes
> from three wells that tap the Patapsco aquifer, had been a mystery to
> state and local officials until recently. Tests by the National
> Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg found that
> polonium and radium, naturally occurring elements, were likely
> responsible for the radioactivity, Department of the Environment
> officials said.
>
> The filtration system will take nine month to a year to complete,
> officials said. After the briefing at Monday night's meeting, Levy said,
> "If there are no objections, we'll get started immediately."
>
> Ben Movahed, an engineer with Watek Engineering Corp., said the
> filtration system would cost about $200,000. Levy said that the cost
> would be borne by the users but that he did not expect any significant
> increase in water rates.
>
> One explanation for the detection now of elevated radiation levels is
> that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rules for water-quality
> testing changed four years ago, said Nancy Reilman, division chief of
> the state Department of the Environment's water-supply program. Under
> the old procedures, water samples sat for about a year to 18 months
> before being tested, she said. Because polonium has a relatively short
> half-life, about 138 days, the element broke down before testing and had
> not been identified, she said.
>
> The first wells in Chapel Point Woods were installed in the mid-1980s,
> said Jerome L. Michael, the county's director of public utilities.
> Reilman said the radiation likely was there all along but uncovered only
> with the newer tests.
>
> The subdivision's water supply tested at an average of 39.4 picocuries
> per liter of gross alpha radiation during nine tests, well above the 15
> pCi/l federal standard. Phil Heard, a state health adviser, said the
> levels were "well within the range of normal background radiation and
> generally create a small risk, though there is a risk nonetheless."
>
> No other area in the county was found to have elevated radiation,
> officials said.
>
> Paul Charp, a senior health physicist at the federal Agency for Toxic
> Substances and Disease Registry in Atlanta, said that at much higher
> levels, polonium has been known to lead to bone cancer, soft tissue
> tumors and lymphomas in animals. He said the International Agency for
> Research on Cancer, under the World Health Organization, says
> information is inadequate to classify polonium as a carcinogen in humans.
>
> "There's just not enough information out there," Charp said. He cited a
> study from 1969 that looked at 10 children who ingested polonium and
> were followed for 46 months. The researchers noticed no changes in the
> children's general health, he said.
>
> Reilman said that her department never told Chapel Point Woods residents
> to stop drinking the water because the radiation was not at acute levels
> and that any potential health problems were associated with lifetime
> consumption of 70 to 80 years.
>
> At Monday's meeting, residents were generally pleased that a solution
> seemed at hand.
>
> Jody Nyers, a member of the Chapel Point Woods homeowners association,
> said she was concerned that some people might have been drinking the
> contaminated water for many years.
>
> "But when you only find out now, what can you do about it?" she said.
> (complete text)
>
> --
> .....................................................
> Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
> Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
> 102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
> Toll free 888-770-3073 ~ www.local-oversight.org
> .....................................................
>
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