Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.

Radium, combined (-226 and -228)

New Orleans Carrollton Waterworks

Radium is a radioactive element that causes bone cancer and other cancers. It can occur naturally in groundwater, and oil and gas extraction activities such as hydraulic fracturing can elevate concentrations. Read More.

Radium releases radioactive particles that harm health in many ways, causing tumors in bone, lungs and other organs; leukemia; and skin and blood damage. Water utilities typically report radium amounts in picocuries per liter (pCi/L), which is a measure of radioactivity in water. The two most common forms of radium are radium-226 and radium-228. They may be reported separately or together.

Federal law allows up to 5 picocuries per liter of combined radium-226 and radium-228 in tap water. Research by the U.S. Geological Survey shows that in some regions of the country, such as the mid-continental region and North Atlantic coastal region, more than 20 percent of sampled wells have radium in levels exceeding the federal drinking water limit. And the legal limit does not equate safety: The EPA estimates that one in every 10,000 people drinking water containing radium at this level would develop cancer over a lifetime.

California set a public health goal much lower than the federal limit – 0.05 picocuries per liter of radium-226 and 0.019 picocuries per liter of radium-228, concentrations that are lower than the detection limit for most water tests.

Click here to read more on radiological contaminants.

 

39

Samples

0

Samples exceeding legal limit (MCL)

3

Samples exceeding
health guidelines

Testing results - average by year

 
YearAverage resultSamples takenDetectionsRange of results
2018N/A00N/A
20190.35 pCi/L73ND - 0.83 pCi/L
2020ND70ND
2021ND90ND
2022ND90ND
2023ND70ND

pCi/L = picocuries per liter

State, National, and Health Guidelines for Drinking Water

EWG Health Guideline: 0.05 pCi/L

EWG applied the health guideline of 0.05 pCi/L, defined by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment as a public health goal for radium-226, to radium-226 and radium-228 combined. This health guideline protects against cancer.

EPA Maximum Contaminant
Level (MCL): 5 pCi/L

The legal limit for combined radium-226 and radium-228, established in 1976, was based on costs for radium removal, as calculated at the time that the standard was set. This limit does not fully protect against the risk of cancer due to radium exposure.

pCi/L = picocuries per liter

All test results

Date Lab ID Result
2019-02-2735451097001ND
2019-02-2735451098001ND
2019-02-2735451097001ND
2019-02-2735451098001ND
2019-09-19354994180010.83 pCi/L
2019-09-19354994180010.83 pCi/L
2019-09-19E210018830010.83 pCi/L
2020-03-262021527-RAW WATER: WELL #6 WESND
2020-03-26202167-HARTFORD AVE. FILTRATIOND
2020-03-26202155-BROADWAY WTPND
2020-03-262021512-ROCKLAND AVE. WTP: TREND
2020-03-262021419-GREAT POND WTP FINISHEND
2020-03-2635540032001ND
2020-03-2635540029001ND
2021-03-2920211130-FINISHED: ENTRY POINTND
2021-03-2920211122-CRANBERRY (TRAIN B) FND
2021-03-2920211115-211 STATE ROAD MONRND
2021-03-2935622313001ND
2021-03-2935622309001ND
2021-03-2935622307001ND
2021-03-2920211026-WANNOS POND REPLACEMEND
2021-03-292021104-CAMBRIDGE WTP - FINISHND
2021-03-2920211110-NRHS FINISHED WATERND
2022-03-152022719-PINE ST. GP WELLND
2022-03-1535704709001ND
2022-03-152022720-WELL #3 & WELL #6 (02GND
2022-03-15202278-WELL # 3ND
2022-03-152022817-TULLY WELLFIELD WTP POND
2022-03-152022922-FINISHED: WINTHROP HOUND
2022-03-152022713-SPEC POND WTP EFFLUENTND
2022-03-1535704706001ND
2022-03-1535704707001ND
2023-03-0635783938001ND
2023-03-0635783931001ND
2023-03-062023411-FINISHED: SNAKE POND WND
2023-03-062023414-RIVERVIEW SCHOOLND
2023-03-062023419-FALL BROOK WTP: AFTERND
2023-03-062023524-W.T.P. - FINISHED WATND
2023-03-062023626-UPTON TANKND