Memphis Water Protected From Contaminated Rainwater

This story ran on ABC Channel 24 last night...

Memphis Water Protected From Contaminated Rainwater

How safe is the water? That's the question people across the country are asking after low levels of radiation linked to the nuclear accident in Japan are turning up in rainwater samples as far away as Massachusetts. The samples from Massachusetts are comparable to similar ones in California, Washington state, and Pennsylvania. Public health officials insist the samples do not threaten drinking water.

In Memphis, “anything that occurs on the surface would take years to reach the water supply,” said Glen Thomas, a spokesman for MLGW.

“Memphis water comes from an aquifer deep in the ground,” he said, adding that the underground water supply protects the water from any contaminated groundwater or rain. “So rainwater and other surface water actually go through a filtration process that takes a number of years before it gets to our water source. We test for a variety of contaminants per state and federal regulations just in case.”

Still, reports of traces of radiation in rainwater in Massachusetts shouldn't be ignored, said the chairman of the Department of Radiology at Methodist Hospitals of Memphis.

“There is detectable radiation in America from this incident [in Japan],” said Dr. Hollis Halford.

But to cause any harm those traces of radiation would have to be “10,000 times the radiation that we're seeing right now,” he said.

“The fears, I think, are very warranted,” Dr. Halford said. “With that being said, I strongly believe there is no concern to us in America.”

But he doesn't think that's likely to happen here in the Mid-South, and neither does Thomas.

“We've not had any issues with any types of radiation, and we don't anticipate any,” Thomas said.

He said the state of Tennessee requires water systems to undergo radiation tests every three years. In Memphis, that's scheduled to get underway within the next few months.