Radium

Radium is a silvery-white, metallic chemical element with highly radioactive isotopes. It is an organic product of uranium and thorium through radioactive decay in rocks and soil.

Unlike other chemical elements, radium is unnecessary for living organisms and may cause various health effects to the exposed individual. Long-term exposure to radium in drinking water may lead to kidney problems, birth defects, and cancer.

You can remove radium from the water source through Reverse Osmosis and ion exchange media. Many small water filter units nowadays are designed to eliminate radium and other potential contaminants with much success.

Since radium is impossible to detect with your sense of sight, smell, and taste, unless you run a test on your water supply, there’s no way you can tell if the contaminant is present in your water.

As a naturally occurring radioactive element, radium in rocks and soil leaches into groundwater. Human-made radium sources, including discharges from medical and industrial operations, mining, and nuclear operations, may runoff to nearby water supplies.

Since the flushing of the pipes does not help in reducing the concentration level of radium in water supplies, it’s crucial to have safe levels of the chemical contaminant in your water. According to the EPA, the regulated standard in public water supplies for radium is 5pCi/L. Levels above the established maximum contamination level (MCL) is dangerous to human health.

There are two ways to remove radium from water, and boiling isn’t one of them. Boiling the contaminated water will increase the concentration of the chemical element radium.