WRT provides guidance by addressing five key questions utilities should consider when choosing a system to remove uranium or radium Thursday, April 16, 2015 Water Online: High levels of radionuclides (uranium/radium/etc.) in drinking water aren’t very common, but they are very dangerous. As carcinogens, these contaminants are strictly regulated by the U.S. EPA; every utility must monitor and provide adequate treatment in accordance with the federal rule, established in 1976 and revised in 2000. If you’ve long dealt with radionuclides, you’re familiar with the treatment requirements — but are you treating as cost effectively as possible? Or perhaps you’re new […]
Category: WRT In the News
GI Reluctant but Successful Pioneer in Uranium Removal
Grand Island is the first city to launch a project of this scale; city is happy with results By Steve White, Grand Island Bureau Chief / Nebraska.TV “We like to spend money like we like to see squirrels in transformers.” Who says utilities administrators like Tim Luchsinger have no sense of humor? And as much as the guys at the power plant hate seeing a critter cause a power outage, they don’t like spending millions to solve problems no one’s complaining about. In this case, the problem is uranium in Grand Island’s water. Luchsinger, the utilities director said, “I don’t […]
Illinois Town Contracts for Radium Removal
Water Remediation Technology LLC (WRT) has installed and put into operation two of the company’s Z-88® radium removal systems in the village of Antioch, IL. Under a 20-year contract, WRT is responsible for the environmentally safe handling, removal, and shipping of the spent treatment media from the treatment site to a licensed disposal facility, ensuring that the treatment waste isn’t reintroduced into the local environment. Prior to treatment, the radium concentration in the water from Antioch’s two wells averages 12.3 pCi/L, which is above the US Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level for combined radium-226/228 of 5 pCi/L. One of […]
Zeolite-Based System Safely Removes Radium From Drinking Water
In 2000, the EPA revisited regulations and monitoring requirements for the presence of radionuclides in drinking water. While most radioactive materials that are present in water supplies are naturally occurring, over time they can present considerable human health risks when allowed to reach unsafe levels in drinking water. One such radionuclide is radium (specifically radium-226 and radium- 228), for which the EPA set the maximum contaminant level (MCL) at five picocuries per liter (pCi/L) in 1976. In 2000, the EPA re-confirmed this MCL and established regulations for monitoring of radium levels in public water systems, with a mandate for communities […]
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 […]