The village of Oswego, IL, has announced it will begin removing radium from its drinking water supply using a technology from Colorado-based Water Remediation Technology (WRT).
The WRT process, licensed by the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety, safely removes radium from the drinking water and transfers the dangerous carcinogen to a federally approved disposal facility. U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) secured federal funding to pay for a portion of the public health and safety project.
“The village of Oswego is proud to take an environmental-friendly approach to the radium issue,” said Oswego’s Village President Craig Weber. “We are extremely pleased to employ WRT, the state’s only licensed process, ensuring residents a clean drinking water supply and protecting the public’s health and safety.”
Like more than 100 Illinois communities, Oswego’s water exceeded the revised accepted level of radium in the public water supply set by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Village officials said they chose WRT because it removes the radium from the drinking water and transfers it to an out-of-state licensed waste disposal facility. In addition, the officials cited the simple operation process which does not require municipal workers to handle the radioactive material.
