3 ms·

From the article... > US Environmental Protection Agency places a limit for the amount of iodine-131 allowed in drinking water of 4 becquerels per litre > By

• sorbus 16y ago
  Yes, possibly the next few paragraphs: > This number needs to be placed in context, however. Norman and co say: "If a person were to drink a typical amount of water per day containing the EPA limit of I-131, then in one year he or she would receive a whole body dose of < 0.04 mSv (4 mrem). This dose should be compared to the US average annual radiation dose of 6.2 mSv (620 mrem)." > And since Iodine-131 has a half life of 8 days, and so decays very quickly, Norman and co say that it is extremely unlikely that the public will be exposed to anywhere near these levels in drinking water. > They end their paper with this conclusion: "Thus the levels of fallout we have observed in San Francisco Bay area rain water pose no health risk to the public." - It's not the safe limit that's being exceeded, it's the recommended limit. - It's still an extremely small amount, which would have very very little effect on you (it would be only about 2% of the average annual dose of radiation, if you drank rainwater containing the concentration found for an entire year). - It will probably last only a few weeks, so if you want to panic you can drink bottled water instead of tapwater for a while (how quickly does rainwater get into the pipes and become tapwater?)
• drags 16y ago
  We don't drink rainwater directly -- it probably sits in treatment facilities for a while before coming out of your faucet.
  • Tichy 16y ago
    Trust in the government?
    • deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]