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 […]
Category: WRT In the News
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 […]
Elburn finds ‘silver bullet’ to solve radium problem
“This is the silver bullet of radium removal” village administrator David Morrison says. “It’s better and cheaper.” Some towns have been able to avoid worrying about what to do with radioactive radium after removing it from the drinking water supplies. Prospect Heights is spending about $1.3 million to switch from well water to Lake Michigan water, which is nearly radium-free. Other towns whose water supply comes from wells changed their methods of disposal to avoid the possibly hazardous practice of spreading radium-enriched sludge on farm fields. Last week, Elburn officials approved a plan to spend roughly $2 million on a […]
Will suburbs clean up water by dirtying land?
By filtering radium, some regulators fear suburbs may create more problems From Batavia to Lake Zurich, Chicago-area suburbs have been scrambling to meet a federal deadline to remove radium from drinking water. But they may be making a dangerous tradeoff Experts – ranging from regulators to environmentalists – say that in cleaning well-water of the naturally occurring radioactive material, they may wind up creating an environmental hazard for a greater number of people. The problem, they acknowledge, is that the issue is so new that no one has yet examined the ramifications of a piecemeal solution to address a known […]
Oswego OKs radium removal pact
New system expected to bring water into conformance with Federal rules Village of Oswego water customers should begin receiving water that is virtually free of radium sometime next spring as a result of action taken by the village board during a special meeting Monday evening. Board members ended months of negotiations between village attorneys, staff and WRT Environmental by voting unanimously to award a contract to the Colorado-based firm to install a filter system at each of the village’s five wells. The WRT system is designed to remove the naturally occurring radium from the water. Under terms of the 20 […]