Category: WRT In the News

Uranium treatment system running for Bass Lake region

Water company officials say residents and tourists at Bass Lake no longer need to worry about uranium in their taps and faucets. Officials from Water Remediation Technologies said the licenses have been approved and the Bass Lake uranium treatment facility is up and running. “We are pretty excited,” said Steve Welch, president of the Bass Lake Water Company. “We went online June 21, and everything has worked flawlessly. Right now we are using the system to replenish more than 1 million gallons of water for our storage tanks, in preparation for the Fourth of July Weekend.” Welch said the uranium […]

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Uranium

Onsite treatment for radioactive elements in drinking water At Bass Lake, CA, surface water is the primary source for drinking water. In peak summer months that changes as vacationers inundate this highly recreated area, increasing Bass Lake’s population and forcing the area to use well water to supplement its supply. According to Ron Dollar, vice president for sales and marketing with Water Remediation Technology LLC (WRT), in Wheat Ridge, CO, it’s at this point that radiation becomes an issue: The deeper the wells are sunk, the greater the tendency to have a problem with radium or uranium. WRT has installed […]

Ra or U Out of H2O

A company that helps municipalities in the Midwest clear radioactive material from drinking water is extending its market to California. The company, RMD Operations LLC, provides filtration systems to remove normally occurring radioactive materials and other contaminants from water supplies. RMD also disposes of the nuclear waste trapped in the filters. RMD, based in Arvada, Colo., has received a radioactive materials license from the California Department of Health Services with the understanding that the radioactive residuals will be stored outside the state. RMD operates as a service provider and markets filtration systems made by a sister company, Water Remediation Technology, […]

Elburn looks at new radium solution

Company’s technology may remove radium from water without killing taste. Elburn Herald A recently developed technology may prove to be the solution to Elburn’s radium problems. A half-completed study shows that, so far, Colorado-based Water Remediation Technology (WRT) has pioneered a process to resolve the radium-removal issue. The new technology uses columns filled with a material that collects radium as the water runs upwards, through the columns. Once the water emerges from the columns, it is cleaned of radium to Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) standards. Once the media is used up, which is projected to happen once a year, […]

New well, same radium treatment

Elburn’s well number 5, which is under construction in the Blackberry Creek subdivision, will include the same radium removal technology that has been effective for village wells number 3 and 4. In a 5-0 vote, with trustee Tom Burgholzer absent, the Elburn Village Board agreed to hire Water Remediation Technology, LLC (WRT) to install a system that removes contaminants from the water, including radium. It is the same system that has proven effective for Elburn’s other water sources. Originally hiring WRT three years ago, the village saw the potential to save money and use technology that was more attractive than […]

Elburn to expand radium program

Elburn’s radium treatment is successful so far and will soon be expanded to the well that serves the Blackberry Creek subdivision, village officials said this week. This year, the village started the radium treatment for Well Nos. 3 and 4. Monday, Elburn trustees approved an amendment to a radium removal system agreement and lease with Colorado-based Water Remediation Technology LLC for the new facility at the village’s Well No. 5. Elburn’s radium treatment is successful so far and will soon be expanded to the well that serves the Blackberry Creek subdivision, village officials said this week. This year, the village […]

Antioch works on radium levels in well water

Village officials have finalized a contract to treat two deep wells with new technology to bring their radium levels down below current state standards. The wells will serve the Deercrest-NeuHaven, Clublands and Redwing View developments on the southeast side of the village. “The wells will not be used until the radium is reduced to an acceptable level,” said village administrator Michael Haley. Getting the radium level down to an acceptable level is becoming a critical issue for the village, said Mayor Dorothy Larson. Cost of the filtration system and its annual operation costs of $85,000 over the next 20 years […]

Deadline looms for well decontamination

CITY OF PEWAUKEE – The city is poised to spend more than $1 million to clean up a large radium-contaminated well as it races to beat a Department of Natural Resources December deadline. The city council voted 4-0 Monday night to enter into an agreement with WRT Environmental LLC to decontaminate its Green Road well, the first of what could be three city wells that will ultimately require costly radium remediation. The City of Pewaukee will spend just under $1.1 million over 20 years for the project, costs that will ultimately be recouped through higher customer bills, Department of Public […]

Oswego toasts water system

OSWEGO — House Speaker Dennis Hastert visited one of Oswego’s well stations Friday to dedicate the village’s state-of-the-art radium filtration system with a check from the federal government for $950,200. Village President Craig Weber introduced Hastert by commemorating the system, which began as a pilot plant in 2002 before it became fully operational in mid-2005, as “a first for Oswego and a first for the nation.” “Our communities were facing a real challenge a few years back,” Hastert said, referring to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s decision in 2000 to require the village and 130 other communities throughout the state […]

Oswego’s Radium Removal Process is First in Country

The Village of Oswego is pleased to announce that construction of the first water treatment plants in the country utilizing a new process for radium removal is complete. The water from each of the Village’s current five, high-capacity, deep wells contains naturally occurring radium, as do many deep wells in northern Illinois. The radium level at each well was above the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) maximum allowable level of 5 picocuries per liter (pCi/L). The patent pending process utilizes a proprietary form of the mineral zeolite, a media called Z-88®, to absorb radium from the water supply. Water from a […]