Radium Compliance with Ion Exchange

Several Ion Exchange Plants have been commissioned in Romeoville, IL, to improve its water quality by reducing existing levels of radium in the drinking water below requirements mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

[dlt romeoville]

a question. Pitifully underinformed and would like to know if anyone actually drinks the water in Romeoville due to the (sometimes) overabundance..or the having at all, radium...a consequence of RAdon??? Anyones innards glowing? Sorta scares me. Information, true and not National Enquirer referanced, would be appreciated.

[Crimson Rose]

dlt romeoville wrote:

a question. Pitifully underinformed and would like to know if anyone actually drinks the water in Romeoville due to the (sometimes) overabundance..or the having at all, radium...a consequence of RAdon??? Anyones innards glowing? Sorta scares me. Information, true and not National Enquirer referanced, would be appreciated.

Well, you asked I'll answer I drink it.

[melons]

Have lived in the village for twelve years. Never drank a sip of it. I will not use it for ice, or to cook in. My mother taught me, "If in doubt...do without."

[VilleHomeowner]

http://www.romeoville.org/enews/PressReleases...

[VilleHomeowner]

The most recent water quality report which shows that the water is perfectly safe:

http://www.romeoville.org/PublicWorks/pdf/wat...

The Village sends every household the new report ever year during the summer. The next report will be out this summer for the 2009 year end.

[Longtime Romeovillian]

We do not drink the water. We have been here 25 years and while the water is better I will not drink it. What I don't understand is when we first moved out here our water bills were reasonable now they are just outrageous and we don't feel safe drinking it. The bills have tripled it's crazy! We never water the lawn because it's like watering it with gold it's so expensive. When you triple the bills and have all the new housing you would think they could produce a good quality water that you feel safe with and that doesn't ruin your facects and dishwashers. My opinion....

[dlt romeoville]

thanks, ya'll. I read the reports mentioned by Villehomeowner, have spoken to various neighbors. And, like here, they are split.

One friend goes so far as to give pets bottled water. So far, I drink bottled but cook with tap. Drinking from the tap for three consecutive days for the first several years would result in a bad stomach unless I boiled it first.(sigh). Have wondered if it was just me..thanks for the input.

[RomeoHitman]

I do not drink the water, we get bottled water plus I have a 6 stage RO filter that we get water for cooking, fishtank and the dog. The problem with the way the radon levels are reported its simply to late, several times over the last few years you would get them notices that the water exceeded a certain level for one dangerous thing or another...the problem is you get the notice in July that it failed in May, that does not do you any good.

Run some of that tap water in a clear glass, you can see the sediment. I regularly check the PPM of the water for my fish tank and I check the tap also, from the tap its 600-650, from my RO filter its 10 and bottled water is 50. I have not noticed any changes yet since they announced the softeners online, the PPM of the tap water is still high.If you use the water for cooking when you boil water its cloudy...ick. However I must say the water never smells funny like I remember Lockports water does and overall Romeoville does a great job or we hit some nice wells. The chemicals are going to be in the water, we live a mile or two from one currently operating refinery and one decommissioned one...I can imagine how much went unnoticed out this way in the 1950's. When they took apart the Texaco field they took out some major soil, that same contamination is seeping its way underground forever.

I would not be brave and drink this water, Crestwood has some serious problems coming from their well, they just said people in Crestwood have a higher rate of cancers...im not saying Romeovilles is as bad as Crestwoods, but I dont want to be the test dummy.

[K Jones]

dlt romeoville wrote:

thanks, ya'll. I read the reports mentioned by Villehomeowner, have spoken to various neighbors. And, like here, they are split.
One friend goes so far as to give pets bottled water. So far, I drink bottled but cook with tap. Drinking from the tap for three consecutive days for the first several years would result in a bad stomach unless I boiled it first.(sigh). Have wondered if it was just me..thanks for the input.

Just so everyone is aware, bottled water standards are actually less stringent for safety than tap water. In fact, most bottled water is tap water from a well and can be from just about anywhere.

[K Jones]

RomeoHitman wrote:

I do not drink the water, we get bottled water plus I have a 6 stage RO filter that we get water for cooking, fishtank and the dog. The problem with the way the radon levels are reported its simply to late, several times over the last few years you would get them notices that the water exceeded a certain level for one dangerous thing or another...the problem is you get the notice in July that it failed in May, that does not do you any good.
Run some of that tap water in a clear glass, you can see the sediment. I regularly check the PPM of the water for my fish tank and I check the tap also, from the tap its 600-650, from my RO filter its 10 and bottled water is 50. I have not noticed any changes yet since they announced the softeners online, the PPM of the tap water is still high.If you use the water for cooking when you boil water its cloudy...ick. However I must say the water never smells funny like I remember Lockports water does and overall Romeoville does a great job or we hit some nice wells. The chemicals are going to be in the water, we live a mile or two from one currently operating refinery and one decommissioned one...I can imagine how much went unnoticed out this way in the 1950's. When they took apart the Texaco field they took out some major soil, that same contamination is seeping its way underground forever.
I would not be brave and drink this water, Crestwood has some serious problems coming from their well, they just said people in Crestwood have a higher rate of cancers...im not saying Romeovilles is as bad as Crestwoods, but I dont want to be the test dummy.

Just to clarify a few points from what we have found out doing a little research. There haven't been any reports from the Village indicating that the water was in violation of any standards in a few years now. You have never gotten a notice in July that the water failed in May, because that's not how they are sent out.

You also mention that you have a RO filter and that you "tested" the PPM. That just tells you how many particles there are not necessarily if they are dangerous particles. Some particles are not dangerous at all. You need to test water by the particle per Billion in order to test it properly. Dangerous containments can be a problem even at that level. You can many PPM of an non dangerous naturally occurring particle and not be in violation of EPA standards. This is why your water is cloudy, not because it's dangerous to drink. A perfectly clear glass of water does not mean it's safe.

Also we found out that since both refineries are on the east side of the river and canal they cannot be effecting our shallow aquifer. Also the deep aquifer in the region flows south so that would be a "myth busted " as well.

It is ridiculous to mention Crestwood with the Village's water. Crestwood was blending "known" contaminated well water with Lake water and the contamination in that case wasn't naturally occurring radium like it is here.

Our water might not be perfect, but there really isn't a perfect water. Even lake water has contamination.

[RomeoHitman]

K Jones wrote:

<quoted text>
Just to clarify a few points from what we have found out doing a little research. There haven't been any reports from the Village indicating that the water was in violation of any standards in a few years now. You have never gotten a notice in July that the water failed in May, because that's not how they are sent out.
You also mention that you have a RO filter and that you "tested" the PPM. That just tells you how many particles there are not necessarily if they are dangerous particles. Some particles are not dangerous at all. You need to test water by the particle per Billion in order to test it properly. Dangerous containments can be a problem even at that level. You can many PPM of an non dangerous naturally occurring particle and not be in violation of EPA standards. This is why your water is cloudy, not because it's dangerous to drink. A perfectly clear glass of water does not mean it's safe.
Also we found out that since both refineries are on the east side of the river and canal they cannot be effecting our shallow aquifer. Also the deep aquifer in the region flows south so that would be a "myth busted " as well.
It is ridiculous to mention Crestwood with the Village's water. Crestwood was blending "known" contaminated well water with Lake water and the contamination in that case wasn't naturally occurring radium like it is here.
Our water might not be perfect, but there really isn't a perfect water. Even lake water has contamination.

I understand what you are trying to say, but there are a few things I dont agree with. I have lived in Romeoville since 1995 and I have received notices SEVERAL times that the water had failed EPA standards 30 to 60 days earlier, that is simply to late and does me no good. I dont know how your notices are sent out, but mine comes in a brochure that says "water quality report" and for several years in a row the water has failed a EPA standard in one form or another however you are correct that I have not had any notices for at least 1 year. Possibly the notices are linked to the certain well your water is drawn from and may be different but it has failed here several times, I read the notices.
Next you talk about clear water not being safe either, I never said it was, but a glass with stuff floating in it is definitely not clean and "ok" to drink. I dont care if its naturally occurring minerals etc. its also safe to eat handfuls of dirt and grass but I dont care to try it. I agree that bottled water is questionable from certain manufactures but if you read the label you can get RO filtered bottled water. Likewise I agree that a RO filter will not remove everything from the water but 99.9% is fine with me, look up RO filters and you might be surprised at how many dangerous chemicals they WILL remove, again I dont care to be Romeovilles test dummy and a RO filter lessens my chances of that by 99.9%.
As far as your "myth busting" on the refinery's...if you believe everything they are telling you, I have a bridge to sell if your interested. Them refinery's were there before you and me, the Texaco was part of a Superfund clean up project which tells me it was worse than "normal", if you believe that it was cleaned up 100% thats fine but I believe otherwise for my own personal safety reasons.
Most of the failures of Romeovilles water came from farm fertilizer runoff from stuff they used in the 60's and 70's, very few of the failures came from naturally occurring minerals, I wish I had kept the notices I received they did have some interesting info in them...not good stuff.

[dlt romeoville]

i tend to agree with RomeovilleHitman. I moved here (Hampton Park area) in 2000. About every report I got, and they seemed to come more often then, had something or another over the limit.

I admit to not knowing what the stuff was, or even understanding their explainations very well, I just know the dang stuff made me sick if I drank it 2-3 days consequetively.

RH, what is a RO filter? does it attach to the tap? Can one purchase it at Walmart, Sears, etc???

Be nice to not worry about boiling water for x minutes when I cook with it, or if the dog is going to start turning into a giraffe or some such....and does a RO filter help with the radium levels? Also, anyone around here have their house tested for radon?(we all gonna DIE!!!!) to quote almost every horror/disaster movie written %)!!!.. Things I might well have thought of a few years ago, but, there you go...

[RomeoHitman]

some info from the site...
Some of the better purification methods include the activated carbon and reverse osmosis. The best contribution that carbon makes to filtration is its ability to reduce chemical quantities, poor taste, odors and many pollutants. Because carbon is only mildly effective in filtering out particulates and microorganisms, it is mostly used as a second or third stage filter in home and portable water use. It is seldom used as a stand-alone filtering, and often times, used in conjunction with reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis, which uses a semipermable membrane filter to separate the water from contaminants.
Reverse osmosis is highly effective in removing several impurities from water such as total dissolved solids, turbidity, asbestos, lead and other toxic heavy metals, radium, and many dissolved organic. The process will also remove chlorine, and also can remove nuclear radiation such as radioactive plutonium or strontium in the drinking water. Therefore, reverse osmosis combined with activated carbon seems to be the most advanced water purification method developed so far.
Some more...
Reverse osmosis (RO) is the most economical method of removing 90% to 99% of all contaminants. The pore structure of RO membranes is much tighter than UF membranes. RO membranes are capable of rejecting practically all particles, bacteria and organics >300 daltons molecular weight (including pyrogens). In fact, reverse osmosis technology is used by most leading water bottling plants.
Natural osmosis occurs when solutions with two different concentrations are separated by a semi-permeable membrane. Osmotic pressure drives water through the membrane; the water dilutes the more concentrated solution; and the end result is an equilibrium.
In water purification systems, hydraulic pressure is applied to the concentrated solution to counteract the osmotic pressure. Pure water is driven from the concentrated solution and collected downstream of the membrane.
Because RO membranes are very restrictive, they yield slow flow rates. Storage tanks are required to produce an adequate volume in a reasonable amount of time.
RO also involves an ionic exclusion process. Only solvent is allowed to pass through the semi-permeable RO membrane, while virtually all ions and dissolved molecules are retained (including salts and sugars). The semi-permeable membrane rejects salts (ions) by a charge phenomena action: the greater the charge, the greater the rejection. Therefore, the membrane rejects nearly all (>99%) strongly ionized polyvalent ions but only 95% of the weakly ionized monovalent ions like sodium.
Reverse osmosis is highly effective in removing several impurities from water such as total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, asbestos, lead and other toxic heavy metals, radium, and many dissolved organics. The process will also remove chlorinated pesticides and most heavier-weight VOCs. Reverse osmosis and activated carbon filtration are complementary processes. Combining them results in the most effective treatment against the broadest range of water impurities and contaminants.
RO is the most economical and efficient method for purifying tap water if the system is properly designed for the feed water conditions and the intended use of the product water. RO is also the optimum pretreatment for reagent-grade water polishing systems.
In addition, Reverse osmosis treatment is an insurance policy against nuclear radiation such as radioactive plutonium or strontium in the drinking water. If one lives near a nuclear power plant, this is a key way to ensure the household is drinking the best water for their health.

[dlt romeoville]

dang. Romeovillehitman, you know your stuff. Now, the filter you use, the RO. Is it a easy to set up, under the sink, to the pipes, to the faucet kind of thing?

It sounds like a small bulding might be needed, reading the info, is why I ask.

thank you for the info, I should say. And mean it.

Now, I am wondering where to investigate getting some sort of system without some salesman selling me some incomprehensable bs.

the new filtration plants seemed to have removed the larger stones and the iron pellets from the cooking/laundry water. Trying to determine if anocompact home system might complete the desired results instead of buying bottled and hoping with the cooking.

[just me]

have lived in romeoville since 1963 and have drank straight from the tap all this time. the water has a good taste to it not like bottled water which to me has no taste at all. I come from a large family that has only reported one case of cancer, colon, my father. I cannot remember anyone dying from cancer from the old neighborhood either. I will drink this water till the day they put me six feet under.