DeKalb city officials don’t want you to get upset about the radium level in the water.

DeKalb was notified on Dec. 27 last year of a radium content violation by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The city has been doing mailings to notify the public of the violation. The mailing was in students’ mailboxes last week, said Cameron Davis, Administrative Assistant of the Public Works Department.

Davis said the amount of radium in the water is so minimal that people should not get upset about it.

“The city of DeKalb’s water is safe to drink,” said Gerald Bever, Superintendent of the DeKalb Water Division.

Only one out of 13 wells is in violation of radium isotopes 226 and 228 standards of 9.8 pico Curies per liter. Radium levels should be five pico Curies per liter according to the IEPA.

“DeKalb residents need to know that the presence of radium in our water supply results from naturally occurring deposits of radium in the ground,” Bever said. “The presence of Radium 226 and 228 is not due to a procedural change, error, infraction or any other action taken by the city of DeKalb.”

“We’re still looking into the problem to see if the problem is in more than one well,” Davis said.

The city has applied for a variance and is waiting for notification from the Illinois Pollution Control Board, Davis said.

The variance would allow DeKalb to apply for a water extension permit, which is needed for any new construction. New construction has been held up by the findings.

Davis also said the current law which sets the radium standard at five pico Curies per liter will probably be changed within one to one and one-half years.

“We’re getting the variance for a period of time (until) the federal government will be able to raise the minimum acceptable level,” he said.

“The current radium violations are no longer going to be the standard,” Davis said.

The proposed new levels of allowable radium are 20 pico Curies per liter.

Davis said, however, if the levels do not change, the city will probably dilute the water system to lower the radium level.