226Ra and 228Ra in Iowa drinking water

The University Hygienic Laboratory has been performing radiochemical analyses on drinking water in the state of Iowa for over 20 yr. Approximately one half of the 1250 community water supplies that exist in Iowa have been sampled roughly once every 3 yr for the past decade. Originally, raw and finished waters that showed a gross alpha activity of greater than or equal to 3.0 pCi/L were analyzed for 226Ra, but starting in July 1976, finished waters were analyzed for both 226Ra and 228Ra if the gross alpha activity was greater than or equal to 2.0 pCi/L. As of 10 June 1981, 604 community water supplies had submitted composited samples that have been analyzed for gross alpha, 226Ra, and 228Ra concentrations in compliance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (Public Law 93-523). Approximately 10% of these supplies were found to exceed the EPA-established maximum contaminant level (MCL) for 226Ra plus 228Ra of 5 pCi/L. The results revealed, consistent with several other investigators (Mc81; Mi80; Mic80), that some supplies had higher concentrations of 228Ra than of 226Ra. It was also concluded, in agreement with McCurdy and Mellor (Mc81), that some ground water samples cannot be accurately measured for gross alpha activity due to their high dissolved solids content.