Radioactive Materials Reported in Scottsboro's Water Supply

How safe is our drinking water?? Official government reports reflect problems from manufacturing and Nuclear Plants upstream on the Tennessee River. We wonder why our citizens have a high cancer incident rate in this area?!

In the past 10 years the following radioactive materials have been found in Scottsboro's drinking water: Tritium, iodine 131, Strontium 90, Titanium dioxide208. Those substances were also found in Scottsboro's surface water supply, Tennessee River at Scottsboro along with Lead212. (Info on Tritium: http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/tritiumnaturalbackground.pdf Tritium levels frequently exceeded 200 pCi/L in Scottsboro as listed in the below NAREL Report linked.)

Within the past 5 years the following other contaminants have been found in Jackson County's Water Supply Systems: 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene, Styrene, cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene, Xylenes, Dichloromethane; methylene chloride, o-Dichlorobenzene, p-Dichlorobenzene, Vinyl chloride, 1,1-Dichloroethylene, trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene, 1,2-Dichloroethane, 1,1,1-Trichloroethane, Carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-Dichloropropane, Trichloroethylene, 1,1,2-Trichloroethane, Tetrachloroethylene, Monochlorobenzene, Chlorobenzene, Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, TTHMs [Total Trihalomethanes] and Coliform (TCR)

Source:
Environmental Radiation Data (ERD), Office of Radiation and Indoor Air’s National Air and Radiation Environmental Laboratory (NAREL) in Montgomery, Alabama, and contains data from the Environmental Radiation Ambient Monitoring System (ERAMS); EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System

Search links: (NAREL tests, annual link list) http://nlquery.epa.gov/epasearch/epasearch?typeofsearch=epa&filterclause=(tssms:ogwdw000)%20AND%20&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fyosemite.epa.gov%2Fogwdw%2Fccr.nsf%2FAlabama%3FOpenView&result_template=epafiles_default.xsl&areaname=Ground%20Water%20and%20Drinking%20Water&areapagehead=epafiles_pagehead&areapagefoot=epafiles_pagefoot&areasidebar=epafiles_sidebar&stylesheet=http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/s/epa.css&sessionid=FADFBCF8E2C58A401CC258F6FFB314D4&querytext=scottsboro%20al%20AND%20SUBJECT:405&start=1 and (EPA Safe Water Testing) http://oaspub.epa.gov/enviro/sdw_query_v2.get_list?wsys_name=&fac_search=fac_beginning&fac_county=JACKSON&pop_serv=500&pop_serv=3300&pop_serv=10000&pop_serv=100000&pop_serv=100001&sys_status=active&fac_state=AL&page=1

Today I visited Scottsboro's Water Sewer and Gas Board. I requested to see the past 10 years of Scottsboro's Water Quality Reports. Those reports were not made available. I was told that I would be called when located.

Update: March 29, 2008, 12PM I received a call from Mr. Roy Light, Manager of the Scottsboro Water Sewer and Gas Board, stating that he had gathered the information for me and that he would bring it by, he did and it is much appreciated. In screening the data from Scottsboro's WSG Report and the EPA's Radiological data there appears to be discrepancies in the Radioactive contaminant levels. Although the Scottsboro WSG reports beta/photon emitters it does not report specific emitters, as in the official EPA report. It is significant that many of the Scottsboro WSG reports prior to 2003 list "Radioactive Contaminants" as a line item and their level. However begining in 2004 the reports omit this line listing. The EPA radiological specific reports demonstrate presence of substances such as Tritium in the water supply, although in small quantities and not in the quantity cited in 1998.

It is important to remember there is a difference between "safe" levels of radioactive materials and levels which are considered permissable and a violation under the law. It is significant to note the EPA's reports do not coincide with Scottsboro's WSG Board reports of 1998 concerning Radioactive Contaminants in our water supply.

Many thanks to Mr. Roy Light, WSG Board Manager, for going this extra step in providing this data.