FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 13, 2007
Barnwell drinking water wells test safe
COLUMBIA—Test results of 39 private wells and a pond near the Barnwell low level radioactive waste facility confirm the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s contention that there is no public health risk to local residents because the water is safe for drinking, the agency reported today.
“This data shows that people living near the site are not and have not been drinking water contaminated with unsafe levels of tritium from the landfill,” said Robert W. King, DHEC’s deputy commissioner for Environmental Quality Control. “In fact, nearly all of the wells DHEC tested did not find any tritium at all.”
King said that of the 39 private drinking water wells tested, 34 showed no tritium at all while four showed trace amounts. One well registered 1890 picocuries of tritium, less than one-tenth of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard of 20,000 picocuries. A retest of the same well found no tritium. A third test of that well was done late last week and found no tritium. The results came from General Engineering Laboratory, the private laboratory that analyzed the samples. It is not unusual to find trace amounts of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen, as it is naturally occurring. Two wells used for irrigation and a pond also showed no trace of tritium. The new tests of wells and a pond up to a mile away from the facility were conducted in late August and early September after questions were raised whether unsafe levels of tritium from the landfill were in drinking water from nearby private wells.
“We hope this data will help address any concerns raised recently by suggestions that unsafe levels of tritium found on the facility’s property could have made its way into their drinking water,” King said.
King said DHEC staff presented the information to the S.C. Board of Health and Environmental Control at its monthly meeting in Columbia Thursday. Information from the staff report is available on the agency’s Web site at www.scdhec.gov.
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For more information:
Thom Berry – (803) 898-3885
E-mail – berrytw@dhec.sc.gov
BNR1797