Eastern Wake County residents urged to get wells tested

Sheila Dubiel and her family have a water filtration system in an effort to drink clean water.

"When I first did the testing before the treatment it showed the radon at 1400," she said.

The amount of radon was well below the Environmental Protection Agency's standard for safety, but the family still opted for the purification system.

"The cool part of this is that is goes through this aeration process where it removes all the bad gasses out of the water, like radon," Dubiel said.

She said she'd rather be safe than sorry.

"Having that peace of mind knowing our water was better than bottled water," she said.

Evan Kane, Wake County's groundwater manager, estimates there are increased levels of uranium, radium and radon in about 4,000 private wells in the eastern part of the county.

"The primary health concern over a lifetime of consumption is an increased risk of certain types of cancers," he said. "Testing is the first step whether you're at risk and then how to manage that risk."

Pat Smelik, co-owner of Kinetico, a water treatment company, said water treatment should be a staple in everyone's life.

"Uranium can be handled at the drinking water level with a point-of-use reverse osmosis system, or at the whole house level in combination with a water softener," he said.

Smelik said testing for radon is very quick.

The water treatment solutions can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $15,000.

Experts say the increased levels of uranium come from the great quantities of granite found in the northeast section of the county.