Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.

Radium, combined (-226 and -228)

Minden Water System

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.

 

64

Samples

0

Samples exceeding legal limit (MCL)

25

Samples exceeding
health guidelines

Testing results - average by year

 
YearAverage resultSamples takenDetectionsRange of results
20180.43 pCi/L2913ND - 1.57 pCi/L
20190.66 pCi/L106ND - 1.50 pCi/L
2020N/A00N/A
20210.19 pCi/L256ND - 1.19 pCi/L
2022N/A00N/A
2023N/A00N/A

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
2018-06-253106470002ND
2018-06-25354007420090.87 pCi/L
2018-06-25354007420080.80 pCi/L
2018-06-2535400742007ND
2018-06-2535400742006ND
2018-06-2535400742005ND
2018-06-2535400742004ND
2018-06-25354007420030.77 pCi/L
2018-06-2535400742002ND
2018-06-25354007420011.57 pCi/L
2018-06-2531064700030.80 pCi/L
2018-06-253109458ND
2018-06-25354007420090.87 pCi/L
2018-06-2535400742004ND
2018-06-254639457ND
2018-06-253104599002ND
2018-06-25354007420011.57 pCi/L
2018-06-2535400742002ND
2018-06-25354007420030.77 pCi/L
2018-06-25354007420080.80 pCi/L
2018-06-2535400742005ND
2018-06-2535400742006ND
2018-06-2535400742007ND
2018-06-27354013180021.26 pCi/L
2018-06-27354013180010.63 pCi/L
2018-06-27354013180021.26 pCi/L
2018-06-27354013180010.63 pCi/L
2018-12-1135437019002ND
2018-12-1135437019002ND
2019-03-26354581900010.95 pCi/L
2019-03-26AE782340.95 pCi/L
2019-03-26354581900010.95 pCi/L
2019-05-21354706820011.50 pCi/L
2019-05-21AE782330.78 pCi/L
2019-05-21354706820011.50 pCi/L
2019-08-1335490110001ND
2019-08-1335490110001ND
2019-10-31AE79185ND
2019-10-31ND
2021-04-1320211026-WELLS #2 & #3ND
2021-04-1320211122-WELL #1: FINISHED WATND
2021-04-132021105-TRAINING FIELD WELL (00.57 pCi/L
2021-04-132021105-WEST PARISH FILTERS POND
2021-04-132021129-MCKEON TREATMENT PLANTND
2021-04-132021127-TREATED: WELL #1 - CHU1.19 pCi/L
2021-04-1320211229-WELL # 3 - YMCAND
2021-04-1320211228-POINT OF ENTRYND
2021-04-132021106-FINISHED: PATTON REPLAND
2021-04-1320211117-POINT OF ENTRY POST TND
2021-04-1320211117-ROSE L. MCDONALD SCHO0.63 pCi/L
2021-04-1320211122-GP WELL # 1 HIGGINS CND
2021-04-1320211014-WELL #2 POINT OF ENTRND
2021-04-1320211014-POINT OF ENTRY POST TND
2021-04-1320211013-RT. 127 - WELL #6ND
2021-04-1320211012-WELL #1ND
2021-04-13356265470051.19 pCi/L
2021-04-13356265470040.57 pCi/L
2021-04-1335626547003ND
2021-04-1335626547002ND
2021-04-1335626547001ND
2021-04-13356259150040.63 pCi/L
2021-04-1335625915003ND
2021-04-1335625915002ND
2021-04-1335625915001ND