Did you know that
the Llano City Council is considering adding
radioactive water to our drinking water?
The City of Llano has hired Hejl, Lee and Associates to look into
bringing water in from Valley Springs as a supplement to our water supply.
The water in Valley Springs is fed by the Hickory Aquifer, which is known
to be contaminated with radium virtually everywhere in Llano County.
Radium is a million times more radioactive than uranium. It is believed to
have killed Marie Curie, the person who discovered it. (Her own research
notebooks are still too radioactive to safely handle today.)
There is absolutely no health benefit to ingesting radium. Rather, it only
causes harm. As radium decays into radon it shoots out particles at a speed
of 33 million miles an hour. Yes, they are very small particles, but most
anything traveling that fast will cause damage to soft tissue inside the
body.
To make matters worse, radium doesn't just flush through you when you drink
it. It is chemically similar to calcium so about 20% of what you drink
eventually gets laid into your bones. If you cook with radium contaminated
water and breathe in the steam, say from spaghetti or rice, a lot more of it
is deposited in your system than if you were unlucky enough to drink it in.
And once it's in your bones it stays there, where from time to time it
decays and shoots out those particles at 33 million miles an hour.
The legal maximum contaminant level (MCL) of radium in drinking water was
set in 1976. It was based on the deaths of several young women in the 1920s
who used to paint radium onto watch and clock dials. Radium is the original
glow in the dark substance, but it's now considered too dangerous for
watches and clocks.
The goal for radium contamination in water was also set in 1976. That
number is zero.
There is a lot to know about the health effects of radium. And it turns out
there is at least one study on what radium will do to a baby starting off in
the mother's womb. In an article published in 1993 (so the legal MCL set in
1976 doesn't account for it) radium is implicated in a significant increase
of childhood leukemia - it being first absorbed in the placenta.
It's easy to verify, do a Google search of: radium childhood leukemia. Or
for more results try just: radium incidence; "incidence" seems to be a
popular word in medical articles on cancer.
Mike Hazel, Jeanne Puryear, Dustin McLeod, Sherry Simpson, and Kelli Tudyk
will decide whether to pipe the Hickory water in. They will be deciding our
future and the future of Llano's unborn children.
With this in mind I have contacted every one of them to ask their opinions
on deliberately bringing this radioactive contaminant into our drinking
water. They all said much the same thing: They're waiting for someone else
to inform them on what to think.
This letter is to inform them, and you on the subject. The people of Llano
should know this decision is being made, and be aware of what City Council
might do. There is nothing good to be had from drinking radium.
HICKORY AQUIFER & RADIUM - DETAILS & REFERENCES
All
indications are that there is radium in the Hickory aquifer.
The following is a starting point, an accumulation of research on
radium, where it comes from in the aquifer, its accepted concentration for
consumption, what the actual concentration is, health effects, means of
purifying, and so on.
What kind
of Radium is in the water?
It occurs naturally in four different forms: 223, 224, 226 and 228
It looks like the Hickory has all four types.
Radium 223 and radium 224 occur in "minute quantities".
95%
removal of one type achieves 95% removal of the other.
In other words one treatment process works equally well for removing
all types.
See:
Texas
A&M University Study
Is there
also uranium in the water?
It seems uranium and thorium are in the surrounding rocks, but not
the water. The decay process
goes from uranium to thorium to radium to radon.
The uranium and thorium are the natural cause for radium in the
aquifer.
See:
Hickory
Aquifer as a Public Water Supply
Study
and
Argonne
National Laboratory Paper - Natural Decay Series: Uranium, Radium, and
Thorium
See page 5
of the first link above for other wells in the vicinity with radiological
geochemistry.
How
radioactive is the Llano river to start with?
City documentation shows "Beta/Photon emitters" at a level of 4.7
mrem/yr in the river water. The
legal maximum contaminant level (for consumption) is 50 mrem/yr.
Llano river water is at appx. 10% the legal limit.
Upstream
sources of radium (and perhaps other radionuclides) in the Llano may have
been added since the above report was generated.
(For example, does fracking in the aquifer feeding the Llano
introduce radium? How much
radium are Junction and Mason adding to the Llano from their wells?). The
addition of upstream sources of radium would increase the amount of river
water required to blend Hickory water down to legal levels.
How much
radium is allowed?
EPA bases current water quality standards on someone drinking two liters of
water per day for a lifetime (70 years):
The maximum contaminant level (MCL) for total radium (combined radium 226
and radium 228) in water is 5 picocuries per liter
Drinking water with a level of 5 pCi/L for a year is "about the same as one
chest x-ray" per year. It is also about the same as cosmic radiation
received during about five flights from Maryland to California.
MCL is an important term: maximum contaminant level.
See:
Palm Beach County Cancer Cluster Fact Sheet
It should be noted that one extra chest x-ray per year is not necessarily
comparable to radium deposited in the bone structure which then regularly
emits radiation into the body throughout a year.
Nor is it comparable to an inhaled steamy mist.
How much radium is in the water from the Hickory?
In Brady, which gets water from the Hickory, the contaminant level is
14.3
pCi/L. Almost 3 times the
maximum level shown above.
Another report puts the average rate across the aquifer at "about 37
picocuries per liter". More
than 7 times the MCL.
See:
Brady TCEQ
Mandated Contamination Notice and
San Angelo Water fact Sheet
Here it
should be noted that 37 picocuries is an average; meaning that in some
places the level is much higher, and in others much lower.
How is
radium tested for and how accurate is the test?
Testing methods have not yet been investigated.
There is a dispute as to the accuracy of tests, with State of Texas
methods possibly underreporting the concentration.
See:
Alternate method for Ra Determination in Water
How does
radium cause damage?
Internally deposited radium (for example, radium deposited on bone)
emits alpha particles that may then damage surrounding tissue. Studies of
workers exposed to high levels of radium and other sources of alpha
radiation for extended periods show that high levels of radium may cause
depression of the immune system, anemia, cataracts, and fractured teeth.
Exposure to high levels of radium also has shown an increased incidence of
bone, liver and breast cancer.
See:
Illinois Department of Health Radium in Drinking Water
fact Sheet and
EPA
on
What
does radium do once it gets into the body?
Also:
Radium emits several different kinds of radiation, in particular,
alpha particles and gamma rays. Alpha particles are generally only harmful
if emitted inside the body. However, both internal and external exposure to
gamma radiation is harmful. Gamma rays can penetrate the body, so gamma
emitters like radium can result in exposures even when the source is a
distance away.
Long-term
exposure to radium increases the risk of developing several diseases.
Inhaled or ingested radium increases the risk of developing such diseases as
lymphoma, bone cancer, and diseases that affect the formation of blood, such
as leukemia and aplastic anemia. These effects usually take years to
develop. External exposure to radium's gamma radiation increases the risk of
cancer to varying degrees in all tissues and organs.
See:
EPA on Health Effects of Radium
What kind
of removal/purification methods are there to lessen the concentration?
Reverse
osmosis
Ion
exchange water softening
Impregnated fiber or granular media absorption
Impregnated resin absorption (WRT Z-88)
Potassium
permanganate greensand filtration
The above
are among others, yet to be included.
Treatment methods remove from 50% to 99% of radium, and range in
costs. Ion exchange, lime
softening, and reverse osmosis are the most common and can remove up to 90
percent of radium present. Ion exchange (i.e. water softeners) can often
remove 90 percent of radium present along with water hardness. For some
people, an undesired effect of ion exchange is the addition of sodium to the
treated water. Those on low sodium (salt) diets should consider this before
installing a softener.
See:
Univ of Houston Presentation on Removal of Radium from
Drinking Water Supplieds and
Illinois Department of Health Radium in Drinking Water
fact Sheet
Also:
Several treatment technologies effectively remove radionuclides
from water. Radium and gross alpha particle activity are the two
radionuclide contaminants that are of concern in the Hickory aquifer wells.
Gross alpha particle activity is an indirect measure for radionuclides,
measuring the alpha radiation generated by source contaminants. EPA
recommends cation exchange (CAX), reverse osmosis (RO), and specialty media
as effective technologies for radium removal for small communities. For
removal of gross alpha particle activity, the recommended EPA
“best
available technology”
is limited to RO. However, one EPA expert has stated that if radium is the
generator of the gross alpha particle activity, then effective radium
removal will also reduce the gross alpha particle activity.
For well sources where gross alpha particle activity exceeds the MCL,
pilot tests would have to be conducted to assess the effectiveness of
treatment processes other than RO.
See:
Texas Regional Water Planning Group: Region F Water
Plan: Water Management Strategies
What else
may be in the Hickory aquifer:
Water from
the aquifer is generally fresh, but contains naturally-occurring
radionuclides and consistently exceeds the MCLs for Radium-226, Radium-228
and or gross alpha radiation; this water may contain high levels of radon
gas. It has also been found that Hickory water may contain iron
concentrations exceeding drinking water standards. Treatment options to
remove these contaminants are expensive, especially with the disposal of the
hazardous waste solids.
In
general, the quality of water from the Hickory aquifer could be described as
moderate to low quality. The total dissolved solids concentrations vary from
300 to 500 mg/l. In some areas the groundwater may have dissolved solids
concentrations as high as 3,000 mg/l. The water may contain alpha particle
and total radium concentrations that may exceed the new safe drinking water
levels soon to be issued by the EPA. Radon gas may also be entrained. Most
of the radioactive groundwater is thought to be produced from the middle
Hickory unit, while the upper Hickory unit produces water that exceeds safe
drinking water concentrations for iron. High nitrate levels may be found in
the shallower portions of the aquifer where there may be interaction with
surface activities such as fertilizer applications and septic systems.
See:
Burnet-Llano County Regional Water Facility Study
and
Texas Region K Water Plan Water Sources
Also: The
U.S. EPA has set the MCL of gross alpha radiation in drinking water at 15
picocuries per liter (pCi/L). Most of the groundwater in Texas with gross
alpha radiation greater than the MCL is found in the Hickory Aquifer in
Central Texas.
See:
Texas Groundwater Protection Committee Study on
Radionuclides in Texas Drinking Water
How to
dispose of residue?
That is, how do we get rid of the radioactive water and filters left
behind after processing?
Options include discharge to a Publicly Owned Treatment Works, discharge
into a water body, discharge into an injection well, ship out of state.
See:
Texas Natural resource Conservation Commission Paper
on Implementing National Drinking Water Regulations for Radiomuclides
The above
document has some very pertinent information.
Costs per customer bill are included in the above document.
Potential
upfront costs to purify radium out of water:
Upper Deerfield Township in Cumberland County, NJ installed a radium
treatment facility for about $1.6 million in 2010. Pop. approx. 7600.
See:
Hammonton plans $2.1 million bond to build plant to
filter radium from drinking water
Goodview,
MN pop. approx. 4000 spent over $3,500,00 on their treatment.
See:
Small City Tackles Radium in Well Water
Brady is
looking at spending $500,000 to treat the radioactive water from the
Hickory.
See:
Brady Loan for $500,000 Funding for Radium Removal
Facility
A very
in-depth report for Mason's options.
See:
University of Texas Feasibility Study on Mason Water
Supply
What about
just blending with water from the Llano?
If blending alone were used, an off the cuff look says it would take
from 3 to 8 gallons of Llano river water per gallon of Hickory water.
Is this a reasonable increase to our water supply given the costs?
Miscellaneous:
On Nov. 8, 2012 the City of Mason had posted a warning on their web
site advising citizens of radium contamination beyond the MCL in City water.
Another advisory on gross alpha beyond the MCL was linked to but
could not be followed.
See:
TCEQ Drinking Water Combined Radium Violation for
Mason
See:
TCEQ Notice of Drinking Water Gross Alpha Particle
Violation for Mason
THOUGHTS and OTHER INFORMATION
That might
not seem so bad, an extra chest x-ray every year.
But if you want to live to be 80 do you want 80 extra chest x-rays?
And the problem is, we do fly.
We use cell phones, we have radio and TV radiation.
We have radiation from the sun.
We have normal background radiation from the Earth.
We have radiation from radon gas, and airport scanners, and police
radar, and microwave tower transmissions and microwaves in our homes.
Computers, laptops, monitors...
And so on.
Everyone
says their contribution is so small that it hardly makes a difference.
A drop in the bucket. How many drops of radiation can you take?
What are the cumulative long term effects of this many different
sources of low level radiation, including drinking radium in our water?
And how
accurate is the assessment of safe levels of radium anyway?
The consequences for children would be greater given the amount of
bone they create as they grow.
Also the elderly suffering bone loss may be disproportionately affected.
Will it
help Llano's image to be pumping in and treating radioactive water, and then
possibly dumping radioactive residue into the river?
With the
evidence that radium is deposited in bone structure, what elderly couple
will want to retire here? Who
would want to have a baby here ?
Radium is
a million times more radioactive than uranium.
See:
Above
suggests not even enforcing EPA standard.
-
The EPA
guideline itself
-
EPA
testing guideline summary
-
Mayo
Clinic suggests 2.2 liters of fluids per day for women, and 3 for men.
Breast feeding women, laborers, and people in hot dry climates should
drink more.
-
1992 study
on increase in cancer rates from radium in water
Based on
extrapolation of risk from the highly exposed radium dial painters and
medically treated cohorts, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
estimates that the lifetime cancer mortality risk (predominantly due to bone
cancer) at the MCL for combined radium is 0.7 per 10,000 to 2.0 per 10,000,
depending on the relative proportion of radium-226 and radium- 228. The
USEPA (2000) has concluded that there is reasonable evidence that
radioactivity acts linearly with dose down to zero. However, there has been
considerable discussion of whether the cancer potency estimates of the
radium isotopes can be applied to the much lower levels of exposure through
drinking water supplies.
See:
Radium
in Drinking Water and the Incidence of Osteosarcoma
Background: Radiological pollution is a potentially important aspect of
water quality. However, relatively few studies have been conducted to
document its possible health effects.
Objective:
In this commentary we discuss available epidemiological findings and related
data from experimental studies concerning the health effects of naturally
radioactive water ingestion.
Discussion: Despite modest epidemiological evidence of uranium
nephrotoxicity and radium effects on bone, available data are not sufficient
to quantify the health effects of naturally occurring radionuclides in
water. Methodological limitations (exposure measurement methods, control for
confounding, sample size) affect most studies. Power calculations should be
conducted before launching new epidemiological studies focusing on late
pathological outcomes. Studies based on biomarkers of exposure and adverse
effects may be helpful but should involve more specific molecules than
biomarkers used in previous studies. Experimental data on ingestion of
drinking water are limited to uranium studies, and there is some
disagreement between these studies about the nephrotoxicity threshold.
Conclusion: Further experimental and enhanced epidemiological studies should
help to reduce uncertainties resulting from dose estimation to dose–response
characterization.
See:
NIH Research: Health Effects of Naturally Radioactive Water Ingestion
Radium
implicated in childhood leukemia due to prenatal exposure:
Only sparse measurements of 226Ra are available, but derived red bone
marrow doses for children in the two villages obtained from a simple
radio-ecological model show the significance of the drinking water pathway.
Prenatal 226Ra exposure of fetuses due to placental transfer and
accumulation may have led to significant doses and may explain the excess
cases of childhood leukemia in the region even in quantitative terms.
See:
NIH Research:
Radium-226-contaminated drinking water: hypothesis on an exposure pathway in
a population with elevated childhood leukemia
Alpha
particles, like helium nuclei, have a net spin of zero. Due to the mechanism
of their production in classical alpha radioactive decay, alpha particles
classically have a kinetic energy of about 5 MeV,
and a velocity in the vicinity of 5% the speed of light (see discussion
below for the limits of these figures in alpha decay). They are a highly
ionizing form of particle radiation, and (when resulting from radioactive
alpha decay) have low penetration depth.
See:
Alpha
Particle
The speed
of light is 671 million miles an hour.
5% of this is 134 million miles an hour.
CHECK IT:
Environmental fact Sheet from NH Dept. of Environmental Services
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