Uranium Widespread In U.S. Drinking Water, Study Discovers

US drinking water contains unsafe levels of uranium, new research out this month shows, Ed Cara reported for Gizmodo, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said uranium was frequently detected during compliance testing, with the element present in 63 percent of samples.

Photo Insert: Little is known about the possible threats posed by uranium in drinking water.

A small percentage of systems contain levels higher than the maximum allowed by the EPA and these sources of highly contaminated water were more likely to be near semi-urban, Hispanic communities, Cara added.

“Uranium is a metallic and radioactive element. Though it’s often associated with nuclear power, the most common form of uranium is naturally found throughout our environment in small traces, including in soil, water, and air. Our bodies are routinely exposed to minute amounts of uranium as a result, but most of this uranium is thought to pass through our body quickly. High levels of acute uranium exposure can be fatal, however, and chronic low-level exposure has been linked to various health problems, such as a higher risk of kidney and heart damage,” Cara wrote.

Uranium poisoning affects people working in industries that use or collect uranium, such as certain kinds of mining, but the researchers of the study published this month in Lancet Planetary Health, say that little is known about the possible threats posed by uranium in drinking water.

To better understand this risk, the researchers analyzed EPA data from more than 37,000 drinking water systems. Then, they used the data to estimate the average concentration of uranium and other metals in a drinking water supply until 2011. They’ve also now released an interactive map of their data for the public and other researchers to view.

The EPA sets a maximum contaminant level of uranium and other worrying metals that can be in our drinking water. Its goal was to eliminate uranium in drinking water. The researchers found that around two-thirds of samples had levels of detectable uranium between 2000 and 2011.

And during that period, they estimated that 2.1% of systems had an average concentration higher than the EPA’s limit. “Uranium is an underappreciated contaminant in US public drinking water systems,” they wrote. Previous research has suggested about 4% of private wells in the US similarly contain higher-than-allowed levels of uranium.

But according to the researchers, their findings are the first to show nationwide estimates of uranium contamination in public drinking water systems, which provide water to 90% of the country.

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