Radiological Contaminants
Invisible, tasteless, and naturally occurring in Hill Country geology — radium is a lab-test problem with an engineering solution.
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Radium-226 and radium-228 are radioactive elements produced by the slow decay of natural uranium and thorium in rock. Granite country and certain sandstone aquifers — the Llano Uplift and the Hickory aquifer around Burnet, Llano, and Mason counties — are Texas's classic radium territory. Because radium dissolves into groundwater invisibly, wells in these areas can exceed limits for decades without anyone knowing.
The EPA drinking-water limit is 5 pCi/L combined Ra-226 + Ra-228, alongside a 15 pCi/L gross-alpha limit. Health-wise, radium is a bone-seeker — the body treats it like calcium — which is why long-term exposure, not taste or smell, is the concern. Public systems must test; private wells are on you.
The good news: radium is very treatable. Because it behaves chemically like hardness, cation-exchange softening removes it alongside calcium and magnesium; HMO (hydrous manganese oxide) media and reverse osmosis are the other proven tools. What separates a real radium system from a softener with a brochure is the engineering: capacity sized to the assay, regeneration designed for the load, a plan for the concentrated residuals, and verification testing after startup. We design community and single-well radium systems — including current work on multi-well community supplies — so this is engineering we actually do, not a datasheet we quote.
Radium can't be seen, smelled or tasted — a certified lab test at pumping rate is the only diagnosis.
How we test →Radium rides out with the hardness in a properly designed cation-exchange system.
Softeners →Point-of-use reverse osmosis adds a second barrier at the kitchen sink.
Reverse osmosis →Radium wells often carry uranium and radon too — one lab panel covers the set.
Uranium →The EPA limit is 5 pCi/L for combined radium-226 plus radium-228, with a separate 15 pCi/L limit on gross alpha activity. Public systems must comply; private wells are entirely the owner's responsibility — and radium has no taste, smell, or color.
Yes — radium behaves like calcium and magnesium, so cation-exchange softening removes it very effectively. The catch is design: capacity, regeneration, and where the concentrated radium goes all have to be engineered deliberately.
Granite and certain sandstone aquifers — the Llano Uplift country and wells in the Hickory aquifer around Burnet, Llano, and Mason counties are the classic Texas radium territory. The only way to know your well is a lab test.
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