Radiation Found in Phillie Water Supply

Philly Iodine-131 Dates Back To August

PHILADELPHIA - There is radiation in Philadelphia's drinking water, but, it turns out, it's been there for a while, and before there was even a problem in Japan with their nuclear power plants.

The Philadelphia water department says it found Iodine-131, in samples, as far back as August 2010. Those elevated readings were from samples taken at the Queen Lane Treatment Plant in East Falls.

How worried do we need to be?

Fox 29 went right to the water department for answers. The city says the water is safe to drink.

The radiation levels are so low that an infant would have to drink almost 600 liters of water to receive a radiation dose equivalent to what we already experience naturally in our environment.

Officials are now working on tracing the source of the Iodine-131.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Water Department said it was working with state and federal officials "to develop a joint action plan that will accelerate the sampling for Iodine 131 and other radiological elements in our waterways in combination with an aggressive program to track down the potential sources of Iodine 131 in the Schuylkill River Watershed."

State officials also found Iodine 131 in both the Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek in samples taken since the Japanese earthquake.

Philadelphia is also adding carbon to the treatment process at its Queen Lane Plant absorb contaminants in drinking water.