ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an information compiled to date by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) toward development of the National Interim Primary Drinking Water Regulations for radionuclides. The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, as amended in 1986, requires that the EPA now promulgate the National Revised Primary Drinking Water Regulations. Several methods are available in the literature for treating drinking water supplies for radium. Available occurrence data for radium-226 was estimated using compliance monitoring data developed under the interim regulations, an EPA survey of 2500 public water systems and limited studies of east coast and midwest aquifers. The EPA has developed preliminary cost estimates for technologies that may feasibly remove radionuclides from drinking water. Radon concentrations were measured by EPA's Office of Radiation Programs for approximately 2500 larger water systems in the United States. As expected, virtually all of the radon in drinking water was found in groundwater supplies.
