Thread: Radioactive Water Wells - City of Houston shuts down two, many more remain

I-Team: City of Houston shuts down two radioactive water wells | khou.com | KHOU - News - Investigative

A radioactive water well that is controlled by the City of Houston, and that serves residents of Jersey Village, is no longer being used, according to the communications director for Houston Mayor Annise Parker.
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As recently as two weeks ago, city officials had said that same well, and nine others across the city, remained online and “available for use,” even after being identified in a draft report by the United States Geological Survey as testing high for radioactive contaminants that are known to immediately increase risks for cancer.
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...because water wells in other neighborhoods (other than Chasewood) in Houston are served by wells with less radiation, Houston’s water supply as an entire “system” stayed in compliance with federal regulations. As a result, Chasewood residents were never warned of what Jones calls a real danger to their neighborhood.

The council member (Jolanda Jones) noted that one street there (Chasewood) has just 21 homes and 14 cases of cancer.

The article contains portions of an interview with the Mayor. The repeated responses ignoring the severity of this issue were really saddening.

Ah Government....our best interests firmly in sight. It's especially galling considering that the communities with contaminated water wells that have been left functioning are minority communities. Lovely....

Alpha Radiation Contamination - apparently this (based on the limited reading I've done on this since reading the article earlier this morning) is about the most dangerous form of radiation out there if it is ingested/injected/inhaled.
Alpha particle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Because of the short range of absorption, alphas are not generally dangerous to life unless the source is ingested or inhaled, in which case, they become extremely dangerous. Because of this high mass and strong absorption, if alpha emitting radionuclides do enter the body (if radioactive material has been inhaled, ingested or injected, as with the use of Thorotrast for high-quality x-ray images prior to the 1950s), alpha radiation is the most destructive form of ionizing radiation. It is the most strongly ionizing, and with large enough doses can cause any or all of the symptoms of radiation poisoning. It is estimated that chromosome damage from alpha particles is about 100 times greater than that caused by an equivalent amount of other radiation. The powerful alpha emitter polonium-210 (a milligram of 210Po emits as many alpha particles per second as 4.215 grams of 226Ra) is suspected of playing a role in lung cancer and bladder cancer related to tobacco smoking.[4] 210Po was used to kill Russian dissident and ex-FSB officer Alexander V. Litvinenko in 2006.[5]

Not only do alphas themselves cause damage, but approximately equal ionization is caused by the recoiling nucleus after alpha emission, and this energy may in turn be especially damaging to genetic material, since the positive cations of many soluble transuranic elements which emit alphas, are chemically attracted to the net negative charge of DNA, causing the recoiling atomic nucleus to be in close proximation to the DNA.

fuckin wonderful, guess i gotta stop smoking cigs and eating french frys too LOL every fuckin this gives us cancer nowa days....

My dad said he has known about this for some time (he's a Geophysicist) and my parents live right by Jersey Village.

We have this super-duper water purifier thing that filters that shit out - luckily. Good thing I've practically drank Dr. Pepper my whole life.

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