MDH finds elevated levels of radium in Inver Grove Heights water supply
INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, Minn. -- Health officials are concerned about the safety of drinking water in Inver Grove Heights, after a routine test revealed higher levels of radium than the acceptable standard.
An October 2022 test revealed 6.0 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L) of radium types 226 and 228, while the maximum contaminant level is 5.4 pCi/L.
"The Department of Health started to do quarterly tests instead of annual tests just to see if they could nail down a little better perhaps if that was just an anomaly or if it was actually a trend," Public Works Director Brian Connolly said.
The city says they are "acting urgently to mitigate" the problem but there is no immediate risk. Residents do not need to use alternative sources of water, nor do they need to boil their water before using it.
"It said the levels were a little bit higher than normal and so it wasn't all that concerning to me," Darin Hider, an Inver Grove Heights resident said. "I've curtailed some of my water usage for drinking the tap water. But other than that, I'm not overly concerned."
The city has planned a water treatment plant filter replacement in 2024, with the design coming soon. Until then, city staff have modified the pumping and chemical treatment techniques at the water treatment plant to reduce radium concentration.
Officials are confident those levels will go down, especially after changing the filters at the water treatment plant, some of which have been there since day one.
"So our oldest filters in our system are approaching almost 25 years in age, while the youngest filters are almost 17," Connolly said.
Large doses of radium have been linked to cancer.
For more information about the water in Inver Grove Heights, click here.
