A DeKalb water well contains enough radium to violate Illinois Environmental Protection Agency standards, but there is no need for concern.

“We have been notified of a violation of radium content in drinking water,” said DeKalb Public Works Director Ronald Naylor.

Although the radium level is above IEPA standards, “the short term risk is minimal and no special precautions need to be taken at this time,” he said.

Radium is a radioactive element that occurs naturally in the lower rock formations in northern Illinois.

The maximum allowable contaminate level for the tested radium isotopes 226 and 228 is 5 picocuries (One picocurie—one millionth of a gram of radium.) per liter of water. Well #13 exceeds these limits by 4.8 picocuries per liter.

All the wells, feed into the common water supply and dilute Well #13’s higher radium content, Naylor said.

At the present IEPA radium content level limit, there is a possibility of .7 persons in one million contracting cancer during 70 years continuous water use, said DeKalb Water Department Superintendent Gerald Bever.

“It’s our understanding that it (the level of radium present in the water) is not very significant,” Naylor said.

The violation prevents the city from applying for a water system extension permit, he said. A water extension is needed for any new construction in DeKalb.

This will not affect any projects already under construction, Naylor said.

The city is filing for a variance with the Illinois Pollution Control Board which will temporarily lift the ban on water permits, he said. It will take three to five months, however, before the variance is approved, he said.

Bever said when he talked to the IEPA, they indicated that getting a variance would be a routine task and approval for DeKalb’s water supply would probably follow.

The city received notice of this violation Dec. 27, 1990, Naylor said.