Answer to Question #4860 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

What are the options for effective removal of radionuclides from drinking water for home use?

This is actually a very complex question, with many nuances. However, there is no need to treat drinking water for home use unless you are using water from a private well that is high in natural radioactivity. Public water supplies in the United States are required by law to meet the state and federal standards for radioactivity in water. Thus, virtually all domestic municipal water supplies in the United States are monitored regularly for radioactivity and do not contain significant amounts of radioactivity. Certainly levels of radioactivity in public water supplies are typically not of health concern, and much of the already low concentrations of radioactivity are further reduced by the normal municipal water treatment such as sand filtration and flocculation. You can in most states obtain the results of radioactivity measurements in municipal water by calling the water supplier or the state health department.  

Untreated water from some private wells may contain amounts of naturally occurring radioactivity such as radium and uranium in concentrations that can approach or even exceed Environmental Protection Agency recommended limits. Depending upon the levels and what the specific radioactive species are, these can be removed by various treatments such as ion exchange, lime softening, reverse osmosis, or simple aeration (for radon gas dissolved in water) or simply by bypassing the problem by using bottled water. Before any such treatment, however, it is important to know if a problem exists, and the water should be analyzed to determine the amount and kind of radioactivity present. Your state health department can help with this, or it can be done by a qualified commercial laboratory. 
 
Ron Kathren
Professor Emeritus
Washington State University at Tri-Cities