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Unsafe Levels of Uranium Found in Water Used for Farming, Drinking

posted by takyon on Wednesday December 09 2015, @11:00AM   
from the glowing-review dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Writing in the August edition of Environmental Science and Technology Letters, Jason Nolan and Karrie A. Weber of the University of Nebraska report unsafe levels of uranium in groundwater from California's San Joaquin Valley and from the Ogallala Aquifer underlying Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and South Dakota.

In Natural Uranium Contamination in Major U.S. Aquifers Linked to Nitrate they note a correlation between concentrations of uranium and nitrate ions in the groundwater samples they tested. They theorize that the nitrate, a major component of fertilizer, can oxidize uranium from U(IV) to U(VI), making it water-soluble. They found that in the San Joaquin Valley, uranium reached as much as 180 times the maximum contaminant level (MCL) set by the Environmental Protection Agency, and nitrate was as much as 34 times the MCL. Samples from the Ogallala Aquifer had as much as 89 times the MCL of uranium and 189 times the MCL of nitrate.

Water from these aquifers is used for drinking and for irrigation. Soluble uranium is bioaccumulated by certain food crops; uranium in the human body can result in cancer and kidney damage.

The Associated Press also reported on the story.

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Original Submission

• Re:not Unsafe, it's facilitating Evolution Re:not Unsafe, it's facilitating Evolution (Score: 3, Insightful) by deathlyslow on Wednesday December 09 2015, @12:36PM

  by deathlyslow (2818) <wmasmith@gmail.com> on Wednesday December 09 2015, @12:36PM (#273910)

  I don't know about that. There seems to be a perception with many people that evolution always results in 'better' organisms.

  And that perception would be incorrect. While it is apparent that what we have now "works" it's not necessarily "better" just more common. We don't "know" what precipitated most of the evolutionary changes. We have a good idea from the fossil and and other records, but we aren't sure, it's science ya know. That and we weren't around to observe it directly. I've also wondered when the disposition changes from mutation to evolution.

  *I'm not a science major just an amateur thinker who trusts no one or no thing, very easily. I have to be shown evidence.

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• Re:not Unsafe, it's facilitating Evolution (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:15PM

  by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:15PM (#274145) Homepage Journal

  Actually it would be correct if "better" was instead "a better fit for the environment", which is what "the fittest" means. "The fittest" means "the best fit for the environment".

  --
  mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org

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