Increasing levels of uranium are contaminating the drinking water in the West. Reporters have investigated the situation in Central Valley in California as well as the Central Plains, discovering that not much has been done to let the public know about the health risk, the Associated Press reported.
Residents in a trailer park in San Joaquin Valley, for example, wonder about the notices on their front doors saying that it's dangerous to drink their water because of unsafe uranium levels. The notices state that people can drink the water, but if they consume it over a prolonged period of time, they could get cancer.
Park owners posted the warnings because they are required by law to do so. Unfortunately, the highly Spanish-speaking community could barely understand what was written in the notes, so they continue to consume the water as usual.
Mark Sorensen, a farmer in Fresno County who leads the local farm bureau, said that he did not know about the dangerous uranium levels in the water.
"To be honest, I have never spoken to anybody about uranium," he told AP. "I've never even heard of it in drinking water."
Researchers from the University of Nebraska published a study earlier this year about uranium contamination in two major U.S. aquifers: the High Plains and the Central Valley, RT reported. These two aquifers combined provide drinking water to about 6 million residents in the country.
The researchers found that the High Plains aquifer's uranium level was 89 times the safe level set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is 30 µg/L. The uranium contamination in the Central Valley was 180 times the safe level.
Drinking water with high levels of uranium can cause kidney damage, increased risk for cancer and high blood pressure, according to government authorities, AP noted.
Uranium is a naturally occurring element, but widespread farming in California has leeched large amounts of uranium and allowed it to seep into the groundwater. In addition, the intense four-year-drought in California has caused farmers to pump more groundwater, causing more uranium to be pulled into drinking wells, according to ABC News.
