CITY OF PEWAUKEE – The city is poised to spend more than $1 million to clean up a large radium-contaminated well as it races to beat a Department of Natural Resources December deadline. The city council voted 4-0 Monday night to enter into an agreement with WRT Environmental LLC to decontaminate its Green Road well, the first of what could be three city wells that will ultimately require costly radium remediation. The City of Pewaukee will spend just under $1.1 million over 20 years for the project, costs that will ultimately be recouped through higher customer bills, Department of Public […]
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Oswego toasts water system
OSWEGO — House Speaker Dennis Hastert visited one of Oswego’s well stations Friday to dedicate the village’s state-of-the-art radium filtration system with a check from the federal government for $950,200. Village President Craig Weber introduced Hastert by commemorating the system, which began as a pilot plant in 2002 before it became fully operational in mid-2005, as “a first for Oswego and a first for the nation.” “Our communities were facing a real challenge a few years back,” Hastert said, referring to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s decision in 2000 to require the village and 130 other communities throughout the state […]
Oswego’s Radium Removal Process is First in Country
The Village of Oswego is pleased to announce that construction of the first water treatment plants in the country utilizing a new process for radium removal is complete. The water from each of the Village’s current five, high-capacity, deep wells contains naturally occurring radium, as do many deep wells in northern Illinois. The radium level at each well was above the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) maximum allowable level of 5 picocuries per liter (pCi/L). The patent pending process utilizes a proprietary form of the mineral zeolite, a media called Z-88®, to absorb radium from the water supply. Water from a […]
Case History of a Small Water System Addressing Radiological Contamination
ABSTRACT On 7 Dec 2000, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency published a revised standard for radiological contaminants in drinking water. This revised standard included a new standard for uranium. Systems which previously did not consider uranium to be a problem now have to address the uranium content of their water. This paper will present a case history of a privately-owned water system, serving a small rural community, which found high levels of uranium in the water supply (groundwater). The project team includes the waterworks owner, the equipment manufacturer, the regulatory agency, and the local government (even though they don’t […]
Oswego first with radium filter
OSWEGO — By the end of July, Oswego’s water should be radium free, thanks to a new filtration system the village is the first in the nation to use. The new technology — cheaper and cleaner than anything else available — is contained in giant tanks of what looks like lime green kitty litter. Called Zeolite, the green dust is a bit more high tech than kitty litter, but works the same way, said Oswego Public Works Director Jerry Weaver. As the village’s water rushes through the tanks, individual particles of radium stick to the Zeolite and the water exits […]
Oswego makes public works “history”
New radium removal equipment activated at well, more to follow There were no speeches or even a ribbon-cutting ceremony with local dignitaries-those will be scheduled later-but Oswego made what could be called public works history last week. Without any fanfare May 18, filtering equipment was activated at the village’s well house No. 7, located in the shadow of the massive two million gallon capacity water tower in the Ogden Falls Subdivision on the village’s far east side. The equipment serves to remove the radium that occurs naturally in the village’s water supply. Over the next few weeks, identical filtering equipment […]
In Dinwiddie testing begins on uranium filtering system
DINWIDDIE – Initial tests on new water filtering systems in two Dinwiddie subdivisions were taken this week. Robert E. Wilson, executive director of the Dinwiddie Water Authority, took samples of the water on Tuesday and sent them to Richmond to determine whether traces of uranium have been successfully removed from the water. Wilson, whose department has no oversight responsibilities with the community well system, was asked to get the preliminary samples and send them to the state lab in Richmond for examination. He will do these tests on a set schedule for several weeks. The uranium filtering equipment was purchased […]
Radium filtering doesn’t get rid of it
It’s taken out of water but put on land, in rivers Dozens of northeastern Illinois communities are stripping their drinking water of cancer-causing radium, only to dump the radioactive element back into the environment in sludge spread on farm fields and wastewater pumped into rivers and streams. State officials say the disposal methods won’t threaten human health, food crops or wildlife. But critics, including some federal regulators, fear that in the rush to make drinking water safer, towns might be trading one radium problem for another. Communities including Joliet, Channahon and Geneva draw their drinking water from deep wells laced […]
Oswego Breaking Ground On State-of-the-art Radium Removal Process
Speaker Hastert provided key federal leadership to clean drinking water and preserve environment Oswego, IL – The Village of Oswego broke ground this week on Water Remediation Technology’s (WRT) environmentally progressive, state-of-the-art technology that safely reduces and removes radium from the drinking water while saving the community millions of dollars. U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert secured federal funding to pay for a portion of the public health and safety project. “The leaders of Oswego and Speaker Hastert are to be commended for their commitment to preserving the environment and protecting the health and safety of community residents,” said WRT President […]
Elburn approves water treatment plan for wells
When Ron Dollar from WRT, LLC first called Elburn mayor James Willey to discuss his company’s system for removing radium from village wells, Willey thought he was being called by a radio station and didn’t immediately return the call. Dollar, vice president of marketing at Water Remediation Treatment (WRT) and Willey eventually discussed WRT’s proposal for removing radium, and determined that Dollar’s company had something positive to offer Elburn. Monday, Elburn’s village board unanimously approved a 20-year lease with WRT and disposal company RMD Operations LLC to operate their radium removal process in two and eventually three of the village’s […]