Long-Term Illinois Customer Adds Third WRT Radium Removal System to Meet Needs of Growing Population

ELBURN, IL. – Water Remediation Technology, LLC (WRT) is continuing to make drinking water safer for residents in Illinois, installing and operating its third radium-removal water treatment system in the community of Elburn. The third system follows two previously installed and successfully operated radium removal systems in the Village of Elburn, located 45 miles west of Chicago. Elburn has grown quickly in recent years, and the third WRT system was installed to meet the drinking water needs of additional residents. WRT has been successfully operating radium removal systems at the community’s two other active wells since 2006.

Under a 20-year contract, WRT removes radium from three wells that provide drinking water to approximately 4,800 people in Elburn. As with the two systems installed in 2006, the new treatment system lowers the amount of the contaminant in the water to a level below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) requirements, ensuring that the city has safe drinking water. WRT will also be responsible for the environmentally safe handling and removal of the radium from the treatment site to a remote licensed facility, preventing future contamination in Elburn.

“While investigating treatment options for our first two systems we found that WRT offered the best value from an operations standpoint. We chose to work with WRT again for our third system because they provide the equipment and handle the removal and disposal of the radium, which means we won’t incur additional maintenance or staffing costs,” said James Willey, mayor of the Village of Elburn. “Moreover, for people’s safety, the WRT system was the natural choice. We feel better knowing that the radium is permanently removed from our community, rather than going back into the sewers or onto farmland.“

The radium concentration in the well water prior to it being treated averaged about 19 pCi/L (picocuries per liter). The EPA’s guidelines allow for a maximum radium presence of only 5 pCi/L, and the current WRT treatment systems have reduced the radium concentration to an average of 0.46 pCi/L. According to the EPA, radium can be found naturally in soil, water and food at low concentrations. But chronic exposure to radium can lead to an increased risk for serious health problems like cancer and anemia.

Colorado-based WRT services clients on a national level with full-scale installations in states such as California, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina and Virginia.

For more information about WRT, go to https://www.wrtnet.com or contact Ron Dollar at 303-424-5355.

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