Location of 113 Water Wells in South Texas Sampled as Part of the NURE Program in the Late 1970s. The Wells indicated by the Blue Dots Contained Uranium Concentrations above the EPA Drinking Water Standard. Graphic: Business Wire.It is incorrect to conclude that elevated uranium in groundwater is due to or caused by exploration or mining activity. The opposite is true. Uranium mines are located where it is economically sensible to extract the mineral and that is where the concentrations of uranium are already high.
"The NURE data provides independent and historic proof that uranium is naturally present in groundwater around uranium deposits - exploration or no exploration - mining or no mining," TMRA Executive Director Shannon Lucas said. "Recent claims that groundwater in Texas has been contaminated by uranium mining activities are not accurate. In fact, there has never been a case of groundwater contamination in neighboring water supplies from in situ uranium recovery."
According to Lucas, EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act [for public drinking water supply] standard for uranium has called public attention to a long-standing situation, that naturally occurring uranium is present in much of the groundwater in Texas. The groundwater has not changed. What has changed is the EPA standard and the public's attention to it. Uranium, in one form or another, has been in some Texas groundwater since the geological formation of the region.
"When you see a drill rig exploring for natural uranium, it might discover an economically viable deposit of the mineral, but it will definitely discover groundwater you wouldn't want to drink," Lucas said.
TMRA is an industry trade association of approximately 100 state and national mining industry members. Among the resources mined in Texas by TMRA members are: clay; sand, gravel and stone; granite; gypsum; lime; silica; marble, lignite coal; and, uranium.
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