AWWA WKICO66050

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) revised Radionuclides Rule became effective on December 8, 2003. Regulated radionuclides include radium-226 (Ra-226), radium-228 (Ra-228), gross alpha particle activity, uranium (U), beta particle and photon radioactivity. In accordance with the Rule, all community water systems must complete initial compliance monitoring by December 31, 2007. Water systems in areas of the country with elevated levels of naturally occurring radionuclides or located near facilities that could potentially contaminate source waters with radioactive substances may have to install new or upgrade existing treatment systems to meet the revised standards, if other options such as developing alternative water sources and blending with non-contaminated water are not technically or economically feasible. This paper presents an overview of the revised Radionuclides Rule requirements, public health risks of exposure to radionuclides in drinking water, available treatment technologies to remove radionuclides from drinking water, and several case studies for treatment to comply with the Rule. Available treatment technologies include air stripping, granular activated carbon adsorption, ion exchange, reverse osmosis, lime softening, greensand filtration, electrodialysis reversal, pre-formed hydrous manganese oxide filtration, activated alumina adsorption, coagulation/filtration, and proprietary media adsorption such as the WRT systems provided by Water Remediation Technology, LLC. Each of these technologies may be applicable to treatment of one or more regulated radionuclides. Based on the results of a recent study for small systems (<10,000 population) in the State of Texas, comparison of capital and operation and maintenance costs of applicable treatment technologies for several case studies is presented. Includes 5 references, tables.