Anne Arundel is giving away money for radium testing and treatment in hopes more residents will remove the deadly contaminant from their well water.
“We?ve done a fairly decent job with bills on the radium issue,” County Executive John Leopold said. “But we need to do a more effective job in telling residents about them.”
The county Health Department is offering free testing of radium to the first 50 residents who ask. Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive metal that in large and prolonged doses can cause bone cancer.
The county also is offering to pay up to 25 percent for treatment equipment that reduces radium levels. That equipment can cost $1,000 to $2,000, Leopold said.
The program is only for county households that earn $80,000 or less. The U.S. Census Bureau puts the county?s average household income at $66,000 in 2004.
Nowhere else in the state are there higher radium levels than in Anne Arundel ? two out of three private wells exceed the federal standard ? but only seven households have taken advantage of the treatment assistance program in the past 18 months.
The low response is why only $80,000 is budgeted for the program, Leopold said. If demand increases, Leopold said, he would commit more money.
One way to combat radium levels is to add communities to the public water system, which unlike private wells are regulated by federal and state standards.
However, Leopold opposes such a solution.
“Not only is it costly, but there are certain communities that do not want that service because it opens doors to further development,” he said.
FOR MORE INFO
For more information on the radium grant program, call the Health Department at 410-222-7398.
