Situation
A 70-home community showed uranium in its water above the safe level outlined in the Safe Drinking Water Act. The radiological element uranium is cancer causing and, when exposed at significant levels, considered very dangerous. Rules and regulations on treating uranium are relatively new. After spending over a year researching the dangers of working with uranium, and installing treatment systems, Secondwind has a comfort level that many water treatment providers have yet to reach.

Goals
The goal in this project was two-fold: eliminate the uranium from the water and properly dispose/displace the radiological byproduct.

Challenges
Treating radiologicals in water is complicated. Removing the element from the water is part one, and disposal part two. In this particular situation, the community was already working with a partner who had little experience with radioactive treatment and disposal. In fact, few in the water treatment business are familiar with treating radiological elements.

Solution
Secondwind designed and installed a high flow rate system, 120/gallons per minute or 15,000 gallons per day. The system itself was relatively economical and the disposal of the uranium-tainted media in the system, though costly, will not be necessary for at least 10 years, giving the community time to plan for the expense.

Results
The uranium is safely removed from the community's water and is safely stored in a fiberglass tank. At current levels, radiation will not travel through the fiberglass tank posing no risk to personnel working in the pump house. When the system reaches its capacity, provisions have been made for the safe and proper disposal of the radioactive material.