WRT Treats Antioch, Ill., Water for Radium
Water Remediation Technology, LLC has installed and put into operation two new Z-88(R) Radium Removal systems in the village of Antioch, Ill. Under a 20-year contact, the system will improve the quality and safety of drinking water for residents.
Located just south of the Wisconsin border in Lake County, Antioch is a historic community with nearly 14,000 residents. The treatment systems will lower the amount of radium in the water to a level below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's requirements.
The company will also be responsible for the environmentally safe handling, removing, and shipping of the radium-laden treatment media from the site to a licensed disposal facility. This disposal at a remote facility will prevent the reintroduction of the radioactive contamination back into the local Antioch environment.
Prior to being treated, the radium concentration in the two new Antioch wells averaged 12.3 pCi/L (picocuries per liter), exceeding the EPA's mandated maximum contaminant level. EPA's guidelines allow for a maximum radium presence of only 5 pCi/L. The treatment systems will maintain the radium levels within EPA limits, with one system processing 600 gallons per minute (gpm) and the other processing 860 gpm.
According to EPA, radium can be found naturally in soil, water, and food at low concentrations. But high levels of these contaminants, ingested over a long period of time, can lead to serious health problems.
Water Remediation Technology, LLC, is based in Wheat Ridge, Colo.