Radioactive water flowed to thousands of homes 10,000 Pensacola, Gulf Breeze residents drank unsafe

Radioactive water flowed to thousands of homes 10,000 Pensacola, Gulf Breeze residents drank unsafe water for 54 months

Scott Streater @PensacolaNewsJournal.com

Thousands of people in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze drank water contaminated with high levels of radioactive material for more than four years.

Radioactive water flowed to thousands of homes (9/7/03) Radium’s risk not agreed on (9/7/03) Timeline of events (9/7/03) Water’s radium risk downplayed (9/8/03) Questions raised, but answers not forthcoming (9/8/03) The long-term effect of the toxic plume (9/8/03) Companies avoid water cleanup (9/9/03) Conoco disputes accusations in toxic pollution lawsuit (9/9/03) Companies avoid water cleanup (9/9/03) Conoco disputes accusations in toxic pollution lawsuit (9/9/03) Feds urged to revisit plume plan (9/10/03) Golden seeking probe by grand jury (9/10/03) Health official explains radium risks (9/11/03) Lanza wants to allay fears about radium in water (9/11/03) Feds take a look at water case(9/20/03) Utilities Authority faces suit (9/26/03) Pollution puts officials in hot seat (10/1/03) Senator puts radium on radar (10/2/03)

A Superfund hazardous waste site in central Pensacola might be the source of the contamination. People were drinking the contaminated water as recently as September 2000.

A review of more than 50,000 pages of public documents reveals that for at least 54 months, between February 1996 and September 2000, more than 10,000 residents in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze were drinking water polluted with radium 226/228 at levels considered unsafe by the federal government.

All drinking water supplied by the Escambia County Utilities Authority today meets state and federal standards.

Government documents, court records, e-mails and memorandums also show that two former ECUA administrators knew residents were drinking high concentrations of radium 226 and 228, known human carcinogens linked to bone and nasal cancers. Yet the administrators resisted attempts by state regulators to force ECUA to take immediate corrective action, which the administrators said would cost the utility millions of dollars.
***
more: https://www.flawatertreatment.com/news/news_12/