Questions from a mother trying not to freak out....

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2011-03-26 20:38

Berkeley Radiological Air and Water Monitoring Forum

I have a toddler and infant in my household and I live in the Sacramento Area. I am trying not to freak out and see this from a calm perspective but it's hard considering how things are happening.

My question is this:
There is currently no monitoring (that I am aware of) in my area, so I am having to go based off the DNE postings here and the constant checks in Santa Monica at Enviroreporter.com to get any idea as to what is really happening. I am gravely concerned about the levels of radiation that are being introduced to my children. My problem is that we do not have a water filtration system in our house and even if we could afford one for the kitchen sink tap, we cannot afford to have one installed for the whole house. We have been (for months now) already been drinkers of only bottled water (our water here is nasty) but we still have to take showers and cook food.

Does anyone have any suggestions on limiting exposure since I cannot afford a full house water filter in regards to baths and such?

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No reason for concern

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2011-03-27 01:26.

These levels are far below anything that could possibly cause health effects. Even for rainwater it's hundreds of liters to be equivalent to the dose from 1 flight. Tap water is diluted and purified before reaching your house. There is no chance of any health risk due to radiation from tap water in the US.

Thanks for the replies

Submitted by Mom from Sac (not verified) on Sun, 2011-03-27 00:44.

Thankfully my husband is not treating me like I am crazy over this whole thing but he is still trying not to think about it because there is a certain amount of hopelessness involved. We too started thinking along the survivalist mentality (also due to, what we thought would be, the economy), so, as we could afford things, we have been stocking up. Our powdered milk box is supposed to make up to ten gallons and we are planning on going shopping tomorrow to get another.

In regards to the filter, our problem is that we live in a rental, so trying to hook it up the whole system is pretty much not an option. However,I will look into the reverse osmosis filter for the kitchen sink. In the meantime, and as long as levels stay as they are, do you think it's a problem to take very quick showers?

Also, I read somewhere that you should stop breastfeeding, but I question whether or not that is safe for my four month old that has been exclusively breast fed. Any thoughts?

Also Freaking

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2011-03-26 22:51.

I am in Santa Cruz and have a 4 year old. We got on the survivalist track last summer. My thought was economic collapse but my husband went right to a dirty bomb or nuclear disaster. So he stocked us up with Iodate and geiger counters. NEVER IN A MILLION years did we think this would be happening.

I have been a nervous wreck as well.

Go and get powdered milk and store as much as you can. Start buying grated cheese and freeze it or blocks of cheese. At some point, if the news that just broke a while ago grows, we WILL see more fallout and the milk, egg and cheese supply will become contaminated. well, all food will but for now, you can store as much as you can afford. You can also buy powdered eggs.

I bought 8 cans of powdered milk from 2 different online suppliers AND they are backordered. I also picked up Nido today for my family to try. You can get a kinder version and another version. The kinder is more like formula but seems full of junk. The adult Nido is just milk. You can get it at Hispanic stores. We won't be drinking it but cooking, baking so I won't need much. I ordered some dried eggs from online.

Here is a review of powdered milks: http://www.utahpreppers.com/2010/03/great-powdered-milk-taste-test-and-r...

If you can, start storing as much food as you can for you little ones. It will be the ONLY way your mind will be at ease. I could post more about what to store but there are countless sites that list it.

ANother thought for people:

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2011-03-26 23:18.

ANother thought for people: Brita filter are great. I used to use them all the time. But the cartridges are expensive. And for a sizeable family, it would not be cost effective.

We made this a few years ago. It works great. It is also uses charcoal filters. It is cheaper than buying the fancy contraption. It does take a while to process the water but it is great. We use this to filter our well water.

I understand (for the original poster above) that this is pricey but until there is ANY signs that this disaster is under control, consider this is going to be a long drawn out disaster and you could easily spend this much in replacement Brita filters.

http://www.alpharubicon.com/kids/homemadeberkeydaire.htm

Maybe someone can help out

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2011-03-26 23:31.

Maybe someone can help out here... I thought these filters were charcoal based but I guess not. Are they comparable to charcoal?

Actually some of the most

Submitted by physicist (not verified) on Sat, 2011-03-26 21:34.

Actually some of the most precise instruments for detecting both radiation as well as radioactive isotopes are in Sacramento. The problem is that the data are top secret and in possession of the DOE. "Normal" citizens do not have a right to access them.

Concerning water filtration, you should be able to pay for a simple activated carbon filtration system by not having to use bottled water for only a few days. See e.g.

http://www.amazon.com/Brita-42629-Slim-Pitcher/dp/B0000AP7NV

or if you want something you don't have to refill as often this:

http://www.amazon.com/Brita-35530-Ultramax-Dispenser/dp/B00009LHZH

If you can't afford the $10 for the former system, let me know your email or phone number and I will mail you a check.

That is nice of you to

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2011-03-26 23:01.

That is nice of you to offer.

Question. I live in Santa Cruz but we have property in Mariposa. Our water there is from a 25' deep well. Do you think that is at risk of contamination? It's not stored in a tank so it pumps as needed so to speak. The water is from deep granite in the hills. I have an old Brita and an under sink filter here in Santa Cruz. But this is city water. Thinking filtering it through the under sink filter and then the Brita might make it as clean as it can get.

But for drinking, we could haul water back from our property if it is very unlikely to get contaminated...... just in case of course!

New wave enviro filters seem

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2011-03-26 22:02.

New wave enviro filters seem to be a good option. For drinking and cooking, I personally get water from Safeway's reverse osmosis water fountain. I'm sure there are many such installations available at about 35-40c a gallon. For shower, I fixed a new wave enviro shower filter though I don't know how effective it really is. there's also a new wave enviro faucet filter. These filters cost about $30 and $80 on Amazon respectively.

If you need any financial help, feel free to post here. I will be glad to pitch in.

From what I've heard the

Submitted by physicist (not verified) on Sat, 2011-03-26 22:32.

From what I've heard the activated charcoal is effective in taking out iodine and heavier metals (perhaps lighter ones). I don't know about reverse osmosis. The New Wave faucet filter is great, but I don't think the shower one has activated charcoal in it, but just a filter to take out the chlorine. I think the problem with charcoal is that it's heat sensitive, i.e. wouldn't be practical in a shower filter. Of course if you want to be ultra careful you can take a regular shower than than poor a pot of water from the faucet filter that was slightly heated on the stove over you at the end to wash of the bulk of whatever traces of radioactive materials are in the shower water.

Anyway, I know it sucks to live in this state of uncertainty (thank the DOE for not releasing their data) but our heros from the nuclear engineering department have promised to make data about the bay areas tap water available to the public shortly!