20-02-2025
Pennsylvania Senator looks to keep Radium, other waste out of drinking water
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — A Senator announced plans to introduce a bill that would keep radium out of drinking water in the Commonwealth.
The bill, authored by Senator Katie Muth (D – Berks, Chester and Montgomery), would close what is called the 'Leachate Loophole,' which permits unregulated, untreated industrial waste to end up in Pennsylvania drinking water. The loophole allows soluble elements from oil and gas waste, including Radium-226 and Radium-228 as well as decay products of uranium and thorium, to spread unchecked, Muth noted.
The legislation noted the clearest example of the issue, Muth argued, was in 2018 when the Belle Vernon Municipal Authority's sewage treatment plant experienced operational issues when its microorganisms stopped working properly. The nearby landfill, Westmorlan Sanitary, had been accpeting solid or and gas waste high in salts, metals and radioactive materials, which was then being processed by the plant. The waste was considered 'detrimental' to the plant's treatment process.
'We must protect every Pennsylvanian's constitutional right to clean water by closing the Leachate Loophole, landfills may not accept or transfer this type of waste to wastewater treatment facilities,' the legislation reads. 'Additionally, this bill would require that all waste streams from conventional and unconventional oil and gas operations be subject to the most stringent, evidence-based radiological testing before leaving a well site.'
With over 30 landiflls across Pennsylvania that accept the afformentioned waste and the leachate from the sites entering municipal wastewater facilities daily, it is what Muth called 'imperative' to close the loophole.
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