Our Governor (Pennsylvania) released a statement about the rain last week:Governor Corbett Says Public Water Supply Testing Finds No Risk to Public From Radioactivity Found in Rainwater (pdf), PA Office of the Governor, 28 March 2011
"On Friday, concentrations of Iodine-131, likely originating from the events at Japan’s damaged nuclear plants, were found in rainwater samples collected from Pennsylvania’s nuclear power plant facilities.Well, don't drink the rain.
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On Friday, rainwater samples were taken in Harrisburg, where levels were 41 pCi/L and at nuclear power plants at TMI and Limerick, where levels were 90 to 100 pCi/L.
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The federal drinking water standard for Iodine-131 is 3 pCi/L.
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[Radioactive Iodine] is not considered to be a health risk in Pennsylvania."
6 comments:
hmm. thinking now about the water collected my rain barrel and my garden.
Me too.
? Why has there been no reports from alaska or canada or the west coast?
seems strange the first time I read about high levels of radioactive material in the rain is from a eastern US state
Manu, I thought the same. Granted, I'm not as curious about California rain as I am Pennsylvania rain, but even here there isn't news about this. I went digging.
The state of Virginia has advised their residents to:
"... avoid using rainwater collected in cisterns as drinking water."
http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/news/PressReleases/2011/032711Radiation.htm
I remember "fallout snow" in New Mexico - we were told not to taste it (but without explanation), so of course, I did.
There must have been similar warnings in other states in the 1960's.
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