Call your local water company
I am wondering, if anyone is calling their local water company regarding testing the water that we are buying from them?
I would think that this is of particular importance for those whose water is coming from an open reservoir.
Please call your local water companies and post their responses here and, especially, any given test results.
I called my local water
I called my local water (West coast open reservoir) company a few weeks ago and spoke to the head of their lab. He was actually quite helpful. He explained that they have not tested for Fukushima yet because: testing is expensive, he wants to use his budget strategically, and feels that testing in the coming weeks and months will be more important than now because now the levels in rainwater are not enough to make an impact on the tap water. This seems logical to me, and he assured me that they are paying close attention to levels in air and rain.
He says he's not too worried about tap water. They can treat tap water. He is more concerned about the food chain being contaminated.
I called an environmental
I called an environmental lab today regarding testing...they were very reasonably priced I thought. $60/ sample for gross counts of beta and alpha, and $160 for speciation. I am not sure why the water companies are not testing regularly, especially now. I will call ours and see also.
Lab referral
Can you post the name and contact info for this lab?
Yes... They are Fruit
Yes...
They are Fruit Growers Lab in San Luis Obispo and Santa Paula. I am not sure if their detection limit is as good as UC Berkeley's (1-3 picoCuries depending on sample type). I have not spoken to her directly but am expecting a call back. They do water, soil, sand, and I believe air (not sure). Their number is (805) 504-6944. They said they have had a few inquiries other than mine.
Fruit Growers Lab
What a small world! I have heard their name before with respect to Ag and gardening concerns.
I will call them and see what they can recommend. Even if they are not set up for radiation testing, maybe they have some referrals.
Thank you.
Call your water company
Well, based upon the comments here, I again emphasize that we all need to call our water companies.
First of all, it IS something that we can do.
Second, it is something that the water companies can and should be doing--it's part of their job, is it not????
Lastly, if more of us call our water companies, we will put the pressure on them to test---many voices are more persuasive then a few lone voices.
Again, we all feel soooo impotent here--this is something that we CAN do. Heck, we pay for this water! We have a right to know if it is safe or not.
I did post....
on our local community website, where I have a blog - I'm already not their favorite person. I actually just mentioned testing once, for a baseline radiation reading. I didn't call because I know what the response will be, same old stuff that we are hearing everywhere else. Figured that getting a baseline reading wouldn't be objectionable.
I will check the minutes of the board meeting when they come up later this month, but I am confident it's not on their radar.
excellent idea. I'm in the
excellent idea. I'm in the suburbs of Philly where iodine 131 has apparently been in the water for quite some time (3.5 years at the Queen lane facility with levels peaking as high as 3-4 piC/L several times over that period of time. If you search the epa historical data for just Philadelphia [not belmont, queen lane, etc, just plain old Philadelphia] there was a peak of over 4 piC/L back in 2005.
My local water co. also treated fracking related water last year sometime, but only disclosed the info recently (well after the fact).
I noticed that one of the Philadelphia facilities (queen lane) that has elevated iodine 131 levels showing up repeatedly over the last 3 years hasn't tested for any isotope of radium since 2007, nor have they tested for cesium 137 since 2007. So saying it is safe to drink X liters is a joke, because they aren't testing for other isotopes. I believe radium is a concern with fracking, and yet no testing for any isotopes for radium in the past few years.
I like the idea of pressing my local suburban water co. We aren't far from Limerick nuclear plant and I'd be very curious to see the results.
Calling our water companies
I did a search online and it looks like some water companies ARE doing radiation testing in PA as a result of the concerns about Fukushima. Apparently, Hanover, PA (if I am correct) wasn't scheduled to test for radiation in their water for another few years as it is a test that they only do every 10 years. However, they are looking for a lab to do the test now (although they seem to be having a hard time finding a lab). So, it is something that we should be calling our water companies about. And the more of us who call, the more likely that they will be compelled to do some testing. We are PAYING for this water. We have a right to know what we are ingesting, don't you think? So, I encourage everyone to simply contact their water company. This is something that we can surely do!!
water
I normally get Arrowhead spring water. I called them and they told me they were testing for radiation once a month now as opposed to once a year. They were NOT testing for their drinking water which is derived from an LA municipal source because they said that the EPA is responsible for checking levels on municipal water. They claimed that any contamination would be removed because their drinking water is treated with carbon filtration in addition to Reverse Osmosis. Their Spring Water, on the other hand, was their own responsibility in terms of testing. Apparently those test results came in at the end of April, none of which they are releasing. Moreover, they said that they have continued to bottle their spring water without any interruption because their test results conformed with the newly raised EPA and FDA guidelines. They would not release any numbers nor would they tell me what water seemed cleaner/had lower numbers. And by the way, they claimed that they were only testing West Coast Spring Water, not East Coast because 'there wasn't a problem on the East Coast'. Funny stuff, these cor porations!
I'm in WA and emailed my
I'm in WA and emailed my water company. We're on a city well, which they said are very deep and wouldn't be affected. Of course, I'm always skeptical of everything, and as our water is harder than I like anyway, this situation has convinced me to get a whole house filter as well as an RO system for drinking water. I've been wanting to do it forever anyway, so now is as good of time as any. Not sure if RO really makes a difference, but can't hurt.