Hope nobody drank the rainwater here in March

[mikey_the_redneck]

This shouldn't be too surprising. Doesn't the atmosphere (jet-stream) carry the radiation in our general direction?

I wonder if the lower mainland in BC has a higher concentration.

[Fleaburn]

Calgary gets rain in March?

[troutman]

I only wanted to see you
Underneath the purple rain

[Nage Waza]

I gave our rain water a glowing review.

[Ducay]

Wouln't everyone have drank the rainwater since it ends up in our resivoirs and thereby our potable water system?

Assuming our water treatment plants don't have the ability to DE-barbecue the water, do they?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Wouln't everyone have drank the rainwater since it ends up in our resivoirs and thereby our potable water system?

Assuming our water treatment plants don't have the ability to DE-barbecue the water, do they?

[GreenLantern]

You drinking water comes from the mountains, you are safe.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

You drinking water comes from the mountains, you are safe.

Ahh yes, I forgot about the great Calgarian Aqueduct where streams and lakes are covered and fed directly to the city from the mountains, with no rain water allowed to enter and impurify its crisp cool flavor.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Wouln't everyone have drank the rainwater since it ends up in our resivoirs and thereby our potable water system?

Assuming our water treatment plants don't have the ability to DE-barbecue the water, do they?

True, but a reservoir comprised of more than just a single day's worth of rain, so unless the rain level is consistently high for a long period of time over the entire area that feeds the reservoir, it's going to be diluted significantly.

And that's assuming that the purification methods used don't reduce iodine and other elements, radioactive and otherwise, active carbon removes iodine, but I don't know if active carbon is used in city scale water filtration.

[photon]

The particular risk of radioactive iodine is in children where it can be held by the body in the thyroid. Hence iodine supplements for kids when radioactive iodine is significant.

Just because something can be detected doesn't mean its harmful in the quantities detected.

ETA: The other thing with radioactive iodine is that its half-life is 8 days, so what was detected in March would be basically gone by April.

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by photon

The particular risk of radioactive iodine is in children where it can be held by the body in the thyroid. Hence iodine supplements for kids when radioactive iodine is significant.

Just because something can be detected doesn't mean its harmful in the quantities detected.

ETA: The other thing with radioactive iodine is that its half-life is 8 days, so what was detected in March would be basically gone by April.

Half life of 8 days meens it is gone in 81 days. Hard to say how long it took to go from Japan to Rockies to our taps. This is just one elememt though. Where there is one element like radioactive iodine found, there are surely others that would come along with it. Cesium is one for instance, and it has a half life of 30 years.

The measured amount in Calgary exceeded Environment Canada's "safe" level. It gets worse though when bio-accumulation is considered. Cows for instance hoovering up large amounts of contaminated grass could output much higher levels in their milk. It is the kids who largely saw thyroid issues in the areas with Chernobyl fallout. Higher milk consumption and thyroid glands much smaller than a typical adult's is my guess.

The amount/level of radiation is kind of a red-herring to focus on in any case. One particle when injested can stay in your bones and muscles for years. Research on these internal emitter scenarios is showing that it can be quite lethal across a population and at a cellular level.

Anyhow, I don't have an answer about what to do about this. Hug your kids everyday, enjoy life and hope/donate for better cancer drugs.

I am pissed off that this data was withheld, that testing was decreased, and that food currently imported from Japan isn't being tested. The democratically elected governments world wide have decided that we are less important than the economy.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Acid rain scared me as a child, I've never had a drink of rainwater since then. Why would anyone drink rain water anyway?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

Acid rain scared me as a child, I've never had a drink of rainwater since then. Why would anyone drink rain water anyway?

If you were lost at sea.

[You Need a Thneed]

virtually the entirety of the water we drink is rainwater.

Unless people our there are burning hydrogen for their water.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by troutman

If you were lost at sea.

Gold star, my question was ambiguous.

Why would anyone in Calgary drink untreated rainwater anyway?

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

Gold star, my question was ambiguous.

Why would anyone in Calgary drink untreated rainwater anyway?

Its a trick question right? Everyone drinks it one way or another don't they?

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by photon

And that's assuming that the purification methods used don't reduce iodine and other elements, radioactive and otherwise, active carbon removes iodine, but I don't know if active carbon is used in city scale water filtration.

Reverse osmosis filtration is the only thing that gets rid of most radioactive elements in water. From what I have read on the web, activated carbon filters will work until they reach their load capacity. Not going to happen any time soon at a municipal level.

[photon]

If you are worried about the levels of radioactive iodine and cesium in Calgary then I don't know what the heck you are doing living here since the uranium and radon and other things that get poured into the atmosphere (which you breathe and gets rained out into the water) from burning all that coal.

Eat one less banana, it'll off set.

The paranoia just makes little sense when the risks of driving a car, boarding an airplane, or going golfing are much higher.

[photon]

Originally Posted by freedogger

Cesium is one for instance, and it has a half life of 30 years.

The longer the half-life the less radioactive it is.

Originally Posted by freedogger

The measured amount in Calgary exceeded Environment Canada's "safe" level.

So you say, some better support than a terribly written article would be nice.

Please don't tell me you're comparing the measured amount in rain water with what's safe in drinking water.

Originally Posted by freedogger

It gets worse though when bio-accumulation is considered. Cows for instance hoovering up large amounts of contaminated grass could output much higher levels in their milk.

Sure, do you have anything to support this happening here?

Originally Posted by freedogger

It is the kids who largely saw thyroid issues in the areas with Chernobyl fallout. Higher milk consumption and thyroid glands much smaller than a typical adult's is my guess.

It's a well known effect and like I said that's why they have iodine supplements for children in those kinds of situations.

Originally Posted by freedogger

The amount/level of radiation is kind of a red-herring to focus on in any case. One particle when injested can stay in your bones and muscles for years.

You mean like the potassium in your body that's 1,000,000% more radioactive than the water measured in March? 4,440 Bq vs. 8.1Bq?

It also depends entirely on the particle. The biological half-life of cesium is 70 days.

Originally Posted by freedogger

Research on these internal emitter scenarios is showing that it can be quite lethal across a population and at a cellular level.

And water can kill too in sufficient levels.

Not everyone holds to the "more radiation is worse" position, there's enough indications that some is good for you that there is no consensus on that point.

Originally Posted by freedogger

Anyhow, I don't have an answer about what to do about this.

Life is full of risks, mitigate the ones you can and live with the ones you can't, and try not to inflate the tiny ones so much that they outweigh the real ones.

Originally Posted by freedogger

I am pissed off that this data was withheld

It'll take more than a poor article by a biased author to convince me that actually happened.

Originally Posted by freedogger

that testing was decreased

Maybe the testing was decreased because it wasn't necessary? How much testing for tigers are there in Calgary?

Originally Posted by freedogger

and that food currently imported from Japan isn't being tested.

Why test it twice?

Originally Posted by freedogger

The democratically elected governments world wide have decided that we are less important than the economy.

Too much drama to take seriously.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Icon

I thought the unit of radioactivity was a "rad".

Rads are for measuring angles.