Removing uranium from drinking water

Uranium is a natural substance that leaches into rivers due to mining and other natural resource activities.

Moab, Utah is the site of a uranium mine that has caused concern that the Colorado River could be endangered.

Atlas Corporation operated a uranium mine near Moab, Utah and the byproduct of mining left a ten-million-ton pile of radioactive tailings. The pile is located less than 1,000 feet from the Colorado River. Proximity of the material to the watershed has been a concern. The US Senate has authorized the US Department of Energy to begin cleanup of these tailings with a budget of $22.8 million. In 2007 the uranium tailings will begin to be moved 15-20 miles away from the river. The project is expected to be completed by 2017.


Uranium Waste Pile Makes Colorado River Most Endangered

WASHINGTON, DC, April 14, 2004 (ENS) - "The Colorado River is not yet the most polluted river in the country, but it could become so if the current problems are allowed to fester," said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, announcing that the Colorado tops the organization's annual Most Endangered Rivers list. "A concerted national solution is necessary to problems that reach far beyond the banks of the river."

The most dangerous situation on the Colorado River is the Atlas uranium milling site across the Colorado River from Moab, Utah. There an estimated 110,000 gallons of radioactive groundwater seeps into the river each day from an unlined riverbank impoundment where some 10.5 million tons of radioactive waste is stored. Ammonia is also leaching into the waters of the Colorado River from the tailings pile.

Radioactive dust from the piles, dispersed by the persistent local winds, settles far from the sites. The piles produce radon gas, a deadly substance that has caused a five-fold increase in lung cancer among uranium miners.

American Rivers and its partners would like to see the waste moved away from the river, which supplies drinking water for 25 million people, including residents of Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

SOURCE: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2004/2004-04-14-01.asp

RMD Operations, LLC, a sister company to Water Remediation Technology, LLC (WRT)

April 27, 2006

Arvada, Colorado – RMD Operations, LLC, a sister company to Water Remediation Technology, LLC (WRT), has been issued a Radioactive Materials License by the State of California for the storage, removal and handling of natural uranium from
drinking water.

RMD Operations is the first company to obtain this license in California, a requirement for systems removing uranium from drinking water. WRT provides cost-efficient processes for the removal of radium, uranium and other contaminants
from water in conjunction with the safe disposal of
the treatment residuals by RMD. The license format
is an innovative multi-site approach that will apply
to all of WRT/RMD’s water treatment operations in
California.

No chemicals are added and no liquid
waste is generated, the radioactive residuals will be
transported to a licensed facility outside the State of
California. WRT’s complete solutions represent the
simplest and most effective processes for meeting
regulatory compliance. Available on a cost-pergallons
treated, long-term contract basis. For more
information, visit our website at www.wrtnet.com, or
call us at (303) 424-5355