Strawberry Creek Run Off Results

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 2011-03-27 15:06

I just wanted to clarify your Strawberry Creek run off results(I'm not so good with numbers), are the levels just below detectability? Is this because of all the rain we had?
Thanks for all you're doing,
JL

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Below detectability means

Submitted by dchivers on Sun, 2011-03-27 15:19.

Below detectability means that we can "barely" see the signature in our data. We see enough to know it is there, but quantifying the actual amounts begins to become uncertain. What we can say is that the concentration, or the number of particles found in 1 liter of creek water, is about 50 times less than what we see in 1 liter of rain water. There are a number of reasons for this that are unknown at this point, but this was expected. The rain water will mix and dilute with other water, the soil acts as a good particulate filter, etc. What we are trying to do is quantify the pathway to tap water, which will have an additional dilution percentage.

In other words 95% of the

Submitted by physicist (not verified) on Sun, 2011-03-27 15:41.

In other words 95% of the radioactive cesium is stuck in the soil of the Berkeley hills now?

Question about Iodine: did you take the half time into account when comparing to your rain water samples, i.e. the fact that iodine should be 20% or so less radioactive than what you measured in the rain 3 days ago?

How will Cesium in the soil

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2011-03-27 19:48.

How will Cesium in the soil from this affect us? It hangs around for a long time, right? Is our soil now ruined for growing food? Must we question every piece of CA-grown produce we eat now? How about home gardens, farmer's markets, etc? Will you be testing soil in addition to air and water? Should anyone in CA with a home garden have his soil tested?

Sorry for so many questions. I'd just like to know if we'll be poisoning ourselves living here. The plumes keep coming and the radiation keeps building with no apparent end in sight. Apparently, it's worse than Chernobyl already. I love CA but living here hardly seems worth the risk unless I'm completely overreacting here. I'm just worried that by the time a real conclusion can be made about this (if ever), we we'll be past the point of no return, health-wise.

Please review my other posts

Submitted by dchivers on Sun, 2011-03-27 22:53.

Please review my other posts throughout this forum. Short answer: at this point we have nothing to worry about. But, this does not mean we have to be blind. Just because we detect, does not mean it is dangerous.