Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Radium in Community Drinking Water Systems by Mean Radium Concentration and Community Water Systems, New Jersey, 2002 to 2023
Indicator Report Data View Options
Why Is This Important?
Radium is a radioactive metal that occurs naturally in trace amounts in rocks, soils, and ground water. As radium decays, it continually releases energy into the environment until a stable, nonradioactive substance is formed. This energy is part of the natural radiation to which all living creatures are exposed. Radium readily dissolves in groundwater where acid conditions (low pH levels) are found. The various forms of naturally occurring radium found in groundwater are radium 224, 226, and 228.
Radium like other elements of the earth's crust naturally enters the body through drinking water and food. In the body, radium acts much like calcium. When swallowed, a small amount of radium attaches to bones, but most of the radium will leave the body naturally in feces or urine. Studies of workers who ingested high levels of radium from occupational activities have shown it to cause bone cancer. For radium 226 and 228, the U.S. EPA estimates that the additional lifetime risks associated with drinking water containing 5 pCi/l is about 1 in 10,000. This means that if 10,000 people were to consume two liters of this water per day for 50 years, one additional fatal cancer would be estimated among the 10,000 exposed individuals.
Definition
The distribution of radium in drinking water by community water system, population served, and year
Data Source
Bureau of Safe Drinking Water, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection(https://www.nj.gov/dep/watersupply/index.html)
How the Measure is Calculated
Numerator:
Number of community water systems by radium concentration in drinking waterDenominator:
Not applicable
Related Health Objectives and Indicators
Environmental Public Health Tracking Indicator DW-86
Description: Radium in community water systemshttps://ephtracking.cdc.gov/indicatorPages?selectedContentAreaAbbreviation=1&selectedIndicatorId=86