by Linda Freilich, Water Sentinel Administrator for Long Island
Strontium 90 is a radioactive isotope; in fact, there are 16 isotopes, 12 of which are radioactive. Sr 90 is the most important radioactive element that is found in the environment. It behaves chemically like calcium so it is readily taken in by the body. It is a short lived decay product. It is particularly dangerous for children and is believed to be a cause of leukemia and bone cancer. It’s half life is 29.1 years. Sr 90 is used as a tracer in medical and agricultural studies. It is found in waste from nuclear reactors.
It was discovered by Adair Crawford in 1790. It may have entered via ash at dump sites. We want to know: has it entered ground water, was it in the dump sites, is it in any of the known groundwater plumes. The best way to find out is citizen testing. Suffolk County Water Authority knows about Sr 89 and Sr88, but they are not testing for Sr 90.
We are looking for baseline data for Sr90 from you, our members. There is a cost of $150 to test independently.
Follow these instructions: It is a prepaid test, this is the copy of an email from Suzette Berlet Walker: “Hi Linda, We think it is great about informing the public in your news letter. We have heard so much lately about radiologicals in drinking water and have been doing a substantial amount of testing for such. As for the process, the customers would have to call and place an order, this way the proper paperwork is generated and the proper containers would be sent out to them with detailed sampling instructions. They also will need to pay for their tests upfront.”Best Regards,Suzette Berlet-Walker,Technical Service Representative,National Testing Laboratories,6571 Wilson Mills Road,Cleveland, Ohio 44143,1-440-449-2525 ex:219,
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,www.watercheck.com
A free test that you can do is MTBE, methyl tertiary-butyl ether. This was put into gasoline to make it burn cleaner; it finds its way into groundwater and is a possible human carcinogen. It is no longer used, but still remains in our ground water supply. It has an unpleasant taste and odor. You can call the SCWA and send your sample in to them, they will test for free. There may be procedures so contact them first. They do have an interest in shutting down well areas that may have concentrations that are too high but they have not been asking the public to assist them in that process. This is a very important test especially if you have a private well. Please check your SCWA Drinking water quality report, the site below has a copy of all of them for you. The address of the Customer Service Center is 2045 Route 112 Suite 5 Coram, NY 11727, (631) 698-9500. Please pass along your experiences with them to me at the gmail.com email address.
Please send your results to
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- this is very important because we need to add them to our data base. Thank you.
http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/rp/factsheets/factsheets-htm/fs24sr90.htm
http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/radionuclides/strontium.html#wheredoes
http://www.gfxtechnology.com/LLL.html (see your SCWA water reports at this site)
https://www.llnl.gov/str/Happel.html
PLEASE NOTE: I CAN ONLY BE REACHED THROUGH THE GMAIL ACCOUNT. THANK YOU.
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