01-25-2025, 02:42 PM
Neighbors,
I contacted Boulder County Public Health last week to get some more details about their encouragement to test for radioactive compounds in our groundwater, and I got some useful info from Carl Job, Water Quality Specialist.
For those with concentrations of radiation or radioactive elements above the drinking water standards, Carl Jobs recommended installation of reverse osmosis (RO) systems with "ANSI/NSF 53 certification." I just saw one system recommended on the BB, and the manufacturer (Brondell) claims that their system (the Circle)"...is tested and certified to NSF/ANSI 42, 53, 58, and 372." Based on this explanation of the NSF/ANSI certification, it looks like NSF/ANSI 53 and 58 would be important for the removal of radioactive elements by reverse osmosis.
Carl Jobs also passed along some additional info from the US EPA about elevated levels of radon in drinking water. Radon is one of the three main radioactive elements that may be in our groundwater -- uranium, radium, and radon. Radon is unique among these three because it's a gas at room temperature, which means it will tend to volatilize out of the water and into the air. There has been a lot of attention paid to radon in air -- it can seep into our homes from the surrounding soil/rocks and should not exceed a concentration of 4 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L). The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment offers free test kits to measure radon in the air.
Because the big concern about radon is inhalation from the air in our homes, not ingestion of drinking water, EPA's recommendations for radon removal from water focus on treatment they refer to as "point of entry" -- removing the radon from water before it comes into our home water systems using aeration or activated carbon absorption. And the concentration for which they recommend such treatment is quite high, although not officially cited as a standard -- 300 pCi/L -- because that high concentration in the water could result in hazardous concentrations in the air, particularly in a closed space like a bathroom or a utility room with a washing machine.
Some Bar-K residents had gross alpha radiation results lower than 300 pCi/L (which would rule out concern about radon getting in the home's air from the water), but higher than the drinking water standard of 15 pCi/L. Some or most of this gross alpha radiation could be coming from radon, with the rest coming from uranium and radium. So there is still concern associated ingesting water with radon at concentrations below 300 pCi/L -- according to a colleague, Prof. Kathy James of the Colorado School of Public Health, drinking water with too much radon is a risk for stomach cancer.
Joe Ryan
303 386 6804, joeryan80481@gmail.com
I contacted Boulder County Public Health last week to get some more details about their encouragement to test for radioactive compounds in our groundwater, and I got some useful info from Carl Job, Water Quality Specialist.
For those with concentrations of radiation or radioactive elements above the drinking water standards, Carl Jobs recommended installation of reverse osmosis (RO) systems with "ANSI/NSF 53 certification." I just saw one system recommended on the BB, and the manufacturer (Brondell) claims that their system (the Circle)"...is tested and certified to NSF/ANSI 42, 53, 58, and 372." Based on this explanation of the NSF/ANSI certification, it looks like NSF/ANSI 53 and 58 would be important for the removal of radioactive elements by reverse osmosis.
Carl Jobs also passed along some additional info from the US EPA about elevated levels of radon in drinking water. Radon is one of the three main radioactive elements that may be in our groundwater -- uranium, radium, and radon. Radon is unique among these three because it's a gas at room temperature, which means it will tend to volatilize out of the water and into the air. There has been a lot of attention paid to radon in air -- it can seep into our homes from the surrounding soil/rocks and should not exceed a concentration of 4 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L). The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment offers free test kits to measure radon in the air.
Because the big concern about radon is inhalation from the air in our homes, not ingestion of drinking water, EPA's recommendations for radon removal from water focus on treatment they refer to as "point of entry" -- removing the radon from water before it comes into our home water systems using aeration or activated carbon absorption. And the concentration for which they recommend such treatment is quite high, although not officially cited as a standard -- 300 pCi/L -- because that high concentration in the water could result in hazardous concentrations in the air, particularly in a closed space like a bathroom or a utility room with a washing machine.
Some Bar-K residents had gross alpha radiation results lower than 300 pCi/L (which would rule out concern about radon getting in the home's air from the water), but higher than the drinking water standard of 15 pCi/L. Some or most of this gross alpha radiation could be coming from radon, with the rest coming from uranium and radium. So there is still concern associated ingesting water with radon at concentrations below 300 pCi/L -- according to a colleague, Prof. Kathy James of the Colorado School of Public Health, drinking water with too much radon is a risk for stomach cancer.
Joe Ryan
303 386 6804, joeryan80481@gmail.com