Health & Safety Questions - Radiation contaminated water

We are asked all sorts of questions most are easy but occasionally we have a challenging one! One of our clients is a multi-national with offices in Tokyo. They were quite rightly concerned about reports regarding contamination of drinking water and had concerns about the risk to their local staff and enquired about filtration. We sent the following reply:

The following is a brief response and should not be considered as the definitive answer or formal recommendation but just as initial general thoughts on the subject. 

I have been in touch with a contact at Sellafield, another specialist in America and also an expert at University of Portsmouth. The general consensus would appear that there is not a major problem and it is being dealt with by the Japanese authorities (see sample response below) from Dr. Jim Smith at the University of Portsmouth who is advising Reuters at the moment.

"They could buy a water filter, but I'm not sure whether it would help for iodine. I'd suggest providing bottled water if that is easy. But I wouldn't worry about drinking the tap water in Tokyo. The levels of I-131 are very low and appear to be falling. I understand that the Japanese have today lifted their advice for infants not to drink tap water."

We have checked out a few reputable companies like DynaGlobal.

"U.S. based company, DynGlobal, recently announced that they are supporting the victims of the Japan earthquake disaster by providing portable and point-of-use solar-powered water purification units. These units feature a four-stage ultrafiltration process that filters out arsenic, mercury, lead, bacteria and heavy metals, and have capacities ranging from 100 to 40,000 liters per day. But, that’s not all; these water purification units are also able to filter radioactive water contamination. This is very significant, since radioactive traces have been discovered in tap water supplies in Tokyo and other areas near the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima. "
These filters although not designed for radioactive contaminants work well, but getting one may be difficult as they currently have run out of stock - every model! 

Another contact whose UK company supplies water filtration systems was very clear and surprisingly knowledgeable about the current Japanese water situation. She stated that in Japan there is a two stage water supply system with general water and drinking water being supplied separately (and charged at different rates). The levels of radiation in the drinking water are certainly higher than normal but should be no cause for concern. Apparently water supplied in most of Wales is higher in radiation levels that in Tokyo! It is possible to fit a reverse osmosis unit to the supply pipe but this would reject perhaps 75% of the water and therefore quadruple the water use and cost when it is not really necessary. Her advice is to do nothing.

We are certainly willing to investigate further and/or put you in contact with suppliers of filtration systems that would assist but the current opinion from the experts is such that all is under control (and from today getting better).