Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.

Strontium-90

Dardanelle Waterworks

Strontium is a metal that accumulates in the bones. Radioactive strontium-90 can cause bone cancer and leukemia, and any form of strontium at high doses can harm bone health. Read More.

Strontium-90 has been emitted widely by nuclear power plants, weapons facilities, waste sites and nuclear research facilities. Strontium-90 is structurally similar to calcium and is thus taken up into bones. The chief health concerns from strontium-90 exposure are bone cancer and leukemia.

No federal drinking water standards for strontium-90 exist. California set a legal maximum of 8 picocuries of strontium-90 radioactivity per liter of water. California also has a public health goal of no more than 0.35 picocuries of strontium-90 per liter of drinking water. According to studies by the U.S. Geological Survey, strontium-90 also is a concern for water quality in private wells.

Click here to read more on radiological contaminants.

 

13

Samples

0

Samples exceeding legal limit (MCL)

4

Samples exceeding
health guidelines

Testing results - average by year

 
YearAverage resultSamples takenDetectionsRange of results
2018ND30ND
20190.17 pCi/L31ND - 0.50 pCi/L
20200.75 pCi/L440.30 pCi/L - 1.40 pCi/L
20210.11 pCi/L110.11 pCi/L
2022ND10ND
2023ND10ND

pCi/L = picocuries per liter

State, National, and Health Guidelines for Drinking Water

EWG Health Guideline: 0.35 pCi/L

The EWG Health Guideline of 0.35 pCi/L for strontium-90 was defined by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment as a public health goal, the level of a drinking water contaminant that does not pose a significant health risk. This health guideline protects against cancer.

pCi/L = picocuries per liter

All test results

Date Lab ID Result
2018-03-19R180810006ND
2018-05-08R181310001ND
2018-07-09R181930017ND
2019-09-10R489776005ND
2019-09-10489776005ND
2019-10-28R4949850020.50 pCi/L
2020-01-27R5023600020.30 pCi/L
2020-04-27GEL510260020.56 pCi/L
2020-09-08GEL5210020020.74 pCi/L
2020-11-23GEL5283770031.40 pCi/L
2021-02-01GEL5339970050.11 pCi/L
2022-05-04GEL578928003ND
2023-05-01GEL620724001ND