HOUSTON—Radiation has contaminated the underground pipes, water tanks, and plumbing that provides drinking water for much of central Texas and the famed Texas Hill Country, according to concerned city officials in the region who have tested the pipes with Geiger counters.

According to local officials, the contamination comes from years of exposure to drinking water that already tests over federal legal limits for radioactive radium. Of even more concern, they say, is that any water quality testing is done before the water runs through the contaminated pipes that could be adding even more radiation. 

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The white paper, titled “Implementing the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Radionuclides,” was an internal assessment of the threat posed from radiation in Texas water, and was prompted by new federal regulations the Environmental Protection Agency adopted on Dec. 7, 2000. The Texas report states “over 200,000 Texans drink water from public water systems which are contaminated with relatively high levels of radium and other naturally occurring radioactive material.” <Entire article here>