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Naturally occurring radioactivity affecting Houston water

Houston, which continues to depend in part on groundwater for 20 percent of its water, obtains water from wells that drill into underground aquifers surrounded by naturally occurring forms of uranium, radium and other radioactive contaminants…..Multiple toxicologists and radiation experts KHOU spoke with agree with the EPA and Bradford, that any amount of radiation exposure in drinking water increases your risk for cancer.

Draft of federal report finds radiation widespread in Houston water | khou.com  by Mark Greenblatt / December 21, 2010 HOUSTON—A draft of a soon-to-be-released federal report shows radiation in Houston’s drinking water is much more widespread than city leaders previously disclosed to the public.　

KHOU-TV has learned that the United States Geological Survey, which is a part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, met with Houston officials in September to present the preliminary findings of a report they do not plan to publicly release until next month.
Those findings, as summarized in a chart created by the USGS and presented to Houston officials, reveal radiation is present in some amount in nearly every Houston groundwater well the USGS tested this spring. That finding is similar to a recently released chapter of the ongoing USGS study, which was based on 28 tests the USGS performed in 2007 and 2008. The USGS concluded, after examining those older tests, that “radioactivity generally was detectable in the water samples.”

The older tests the USGS performed did not find water wells that tested above the federal legal limit for a particularly dangerous form of radioactivity known as alpha radiation. However, the newer tests from this spring described in that preview chart that KHOU-TV obtained, reveal as many as 10 separate water wells had so much alpha radiation present in their water they would test above a dotted line that the USGS used to represent the federal legal limit.　……

Houston, which continues to depend in part on groundwater for 20 percent of its water, obtains water from wells that drill into underground aquifers surrounded by naturally occurring forms of uranium, radium and other radioactive contaminants. Those contaminants are not removed by current Houston water-treatment techniques, as the city has declined to install filters that could remove the radiation……..
City Council Member C.O. “Brad” Bradford, who is also the former chief of police in Houston.

“There’s radiation in Houston’s water supplies across the Houston area that’s completely unacceptable. It is dangerous,” he said.

Bradford said he believes city leaders have not done enough to warn residents about the increased cancer risks alpha radiation immediately poses in their drinking water. He said city residents deserve much better after just “suffering” a 40-percent hike in their water rates.　……..
A KHOU review of EPA regulations reveals the EPA does, in fact, say in the United States federal register that “it is assumed that any exposure to radiation may be harmful (or may increase the risk of cancer).”

Further, the EPA also says in the federal register that, “For alpha particles, it has been shown experimentally that a single alpha passing through a cell is sufficient to induce a mutational event.”

Multiple toxicologists and radiation experts KHOU spoke with agree with the EPA and Bradford, that any amount of radiation exposure in drinking water increases your risk for cancer.

I-Team: Draft of federal report finds radiation widespread in Houston water | khou.com | khou.com Local News

December 22, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, water