Iodine-131 Found In Philadelphia Water

PHILADELPHIA - New data released by the EPA show three of the five highest readings for radioactive iodine in the U.S. are in the Philadelphia drinking water supply.

A blogger on Forbes first spotted the data on Sunday in a database of water tests posted on the EPA Web site.

Read All Findings at / www.epa.gov/japan2011/rert/radnet-sampling-data.html#water

The EPA site shows the effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident on American supplies of milk and water.

The EPA said in a previous statement "detections in air, precipitation, and milk were expected, and the levels detected have been far below levels of public-health concern."

However, some scientists don't agree with the EPA guidelines on radiation. The Physicians for Social Responsibility, a prominent anti-nuclear group, believes there is no safe level of exposure to radiation .

The EPA says the most common source of Iodine-131 from the "fission of uranium atoms during operation of nuclear reactors and by plutonium (or uranium) in the detonation of nuclear weapons."

The newest data release has samples from 66 sites across the U.S. and 21 sites picked up traces of Iodine-131 in the water supply.

The sample from Philadelphia's Queen Lane Treatment Plant showed 2.2 picoCuries per liter—the highest drinking-water level shown in the U.S. after the Fukushima accident.

Latest EPA Data: Iodine-131 Levels In Drinking Water

Source: www.epa.gov/japan2011/rert/radnet-sampling-data.html#water

The samples were taken on April 4th at the Queen Lane, Belmont and Baxter sites in Philadelphia. Iodine-131 has a half life of 8 days.

Philadelphia-Queen (first), Philadelphia-Belmont (third) and Philadelphia-Baxter (fifth) and two sites in Tennessee had the five highest-levels in the U.S. In all, 5 of the top 10 locations are in the Fox 29 viewing area. (Waretown, N.J. is near the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant.)

On March 28, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said tests of public drinking water found no elevated levels of radioactivity, but high concentrations of Iodine-131 were found in rainwater samples collected from Pennsylvania's nuclear power plant facilities.

The numbers reported in the rainwater samples on March 28th in Pennsylvania ranged from 40-100 picocuries per liter (pCi/L).

"Rainwater is not typically directly consumed,'' Corbett said on March 28. "However, people might get alarmed by making what would be an inappropriate connection from rainwater to drinking water. By testing the drinking water, we can assure people that the water is safe.''

By The Numbers is a regular MyFoxPhilly feature that looks at key Philadelphia issues behind publicly available numbers and research.
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