# Are you Texans drinking radioactive water?



## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

I have been noticing a glow in the eastern sky. Are you guys in Texas starting to give that soft green glow?

http://www.khou.com/news/local/-i-t...pipes-and-plumbing-radioactive-122108194.html

:radioactive:


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Oh my. That's concerning.


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

LOL Water here has always been a problem. In a lot of places, people have to burn off the natural gas that comes out of their pipes. It's not from fracking, either. It has been that way for years. My water tastes awful. I get water for drinking and cooking from someone up the road who has a good well.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

So is it a spotty problem? Some wells are good, some aren't? The reason I ask is because I've been checking online listings in TX hill country.


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

I don't know exactly why there is radium in the water here. I don't think you can taste it. The places cited in the article have municipal water. I have both. I have a well and I have "city" water. The city sends around notices telling us that the water is bad and don't drink it and the well tastes bad so I haul water from the guy up the road for drinking and cooking. Truth is, the water from up the road is probably just as contaminated. 

It can't be too bad because more than a few people live to be 100 here.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I have never heard of the radium problem in the Hill Country wells but out near Kingsville they have mined(maybe still do) uranium. 

The mining method uses water injected from the surface, into the target layer. They then pump it back out and harvest the ore that dissolves in the water. I dont see how it can be kept it out of the aquifer there.


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## Marcus (May 13, 2012)

goshengirl said:


> So is it a spotty problem? Some wells are good, some aren't? The reason I ask is because I've been checking online listings in TX hill country.


There's not any oil/gas wells in that area from what I remember. The hills are mostly limestone/granite and don't have the geologic formations necessary for gas or oil to be formed.

The bad side of it is that many water wells are very deep and the water has a high concentration of minerals.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

If you can read at night without turning on the light then start to worry.


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## Jimmy24 (Apr 20, 2011)

My cousins have a place in central Texas (Robert Lee). Their water issues have been going on for 50+ years. The high mineral content is hell on the plumbing and drinking. Softening systems wear out after just a few years. And they only make the water useful for bathing and cleaning. They have always brought in their drinking water. They used an old cistern for many years, but it caved in and they just decided to bring in more water. Their wells (4) vary in depth from 60 ft to 900 ft and the water is the same. They have a trailer with a 500 gallon water tank on it. They fill it twice a month from a water company up around Sweetwater. 

There is plenty of water at their place, it's just the quailty sucks.

Jimmy


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Does RO work on bad and/or hard water?


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

Glad I don't live in Texas!!!!


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

That's fine. I'm glad I don't live in Nebraska.


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## Fn/Form (Nov 6, 2008)

goshengirl said:


> So is it a spotty problem? Some wells are good, some aren't? The reason I ask is because I've been checking online listings in TX hill country.


Good times vacation home or permanent relocation?

Well depths in the "Hill Country" proper are deep... or they have the water delivered. Neither of which are good for independent living.

And... the area is one of the allergy capitals of the country.

But everything else is great! ;-)


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

My well here is just about the same depth as my well in Virginia...about 150 feet.


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## dirtgrrl (Jun 5, 2011)

partdeux said:


> Does RO work on bad and/or hard water?


Yes it does, but very bad water may need prefiltering or to be treated twice. A coarse membrane to get larger solids, then a finer one to get the rest. The fine membranes are expensive and prefiltering makes them last a lot longer.

Certain wells in my BOL area have a big problem with naturally-occurring arsenic. It can be filtered out, but it's not sustainable. Also grass plants (or any monocot like corn) will substitute arsenic for silica in their tissues if this unfiltered water is used for irrigation. Grazing animals ingest it and it can then be transferred to humans.

Water quality was a huge consideration in my search for a BOL. I turned down several great deals because I didn't want to deal with undrinkable well water in a SHTF situation where the technology wouldn't be available to filter it.


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