DEP finds Tenmile Creek radiation level well below drinking water standards
The state environmental agency said results from a comprehensive, six-month study of radiation levels in Ten Mile Creek in Greene County show the levels in the water, sediment, plants and fish are well below federal limits.
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) personnel from the radiation protection and district mining operations bureaus took samples from 12 locations in June as a follow up to an April 2014 study that found the creek water had radiation levels 60 times higher that drinking water standards. A report on the analysis of the samples was released this week.
Results from all the water test sites were less than 1 picocuries per liter and there was no indication of accumulated radiation in the sediment, plants, or fish. The federal Environmental Protection Agency drinking water limit of 5 picocuries per liter.
“The conclusion is good news for residents worried about the safety of drinking water supplies after elevated radiation levels were reported from surface water samples taken in the spring of 2014,” said state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson. “I pushed hard for increased monitoring and analysis of the waterway, and I applaud the thoroughness and attention devoted by the DEP and researchers to the matter.”
“We went back in June this year. What we were aiming to do was answer a lot of questions that came up in regard to the creek. So we decided to do a really comprehensive set tests. In addition to the original three locations, we went to nine others,” said DEP spokesman John Poister.
Water and sediment samples were taken from 10 locations in the north and south forks of Tenmile Creek. Samples of sludge and treated water were taken from the Clyde Mine Treatment Facility near Clarksville and the Tri-County Joint Municipal Water Authority. Soil was collected in an area near the treatment facility where untreated mine pool water occasionally seeps to the surface. Aquatic vegetation was taken where available, and fish samples were obtained near the treatment facility outfall and at a background reference area 24 miles upstream in an area the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission designated as Approved Trout Waters.
“What we found was that there was nothing out of the ordinary in any of those readings,” Poister said.
A 1.3 picocurie per liter reading from the sludge in the mine water treatment plant is higher than other other readings, but well below the limit.
The DEP will continue monitoring the sludge. A small amount of radiation from the solids and metals that the sludge removes from mine water does remain in the sludge, he said.
“DEP is not dropping the matter and will continue to sample and analyze the high-density treatment sludge found in a tank at the Clyde Mine Treatment Facility,” Snyder said. “However, DEP determined that water leaving the treatment plant did not contain radium levels above typical background radiation readings.”
She said the DEP investigation supports independent analyses reported in July by the West Virginia Water Research Institute, which indicated no dangerous levels of radiation.
“No one is willing to let their guard down, but the results of both investigations are good news for the region and its water supplies,” Snyder said.
The extensive sampling and testing took a long time to complete, Poister said. Residents would have been alerted and material would have been removed immediately if elevated levels of radiation showed up in preliminary results that were reported during the process, he said.
“This amount of testing took a long time. It took a long time to process. We sent a lot of test material to our lab in Harrisburg,” Poister said.
The Ten Mile Creek Sampling Survey, which was released Tuesday, is available on the DEP and Snyder’s websites.