Comments on: Southern Jordan’s water will make you Spiderman…or just give you cancer

By: Dad

Dad — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:57:33 +0000

This raises a few questions — the EPA studies linked covered only radium levels near the MCL (Maximum Contaminant Level) of 5 (and up to 9) pCi/l, which produced a Lifetime Excess Cancer Risk from 0.7 (ie, 30% decrease!) to 2.9 (almost 3-fold increase) depending on the study; I wonder if anybody has studied long term consumption of water at up to 20x the MCL (ie, 100 pCi/l)? One might guess that people using water from this aquifer would have much higher rates of osteosarcoma, particularly in males, than the general population elsewhere (as in northern Jordan). Is this indeed the case?

How much of the bottled water sold in the Aqaba area is obtained from this source, and is it reliably treated by reverse osmosis prior to bottling?

By: Babs

Babs — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:40:31 +0000

waoh scary

By: Zach

Zach — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:03:56 +0000

Hi Muna,

Unfortunately I’m not an expert on the subject, and it seems like you’re already taking suitable proactive action in your own home. Of course, you can’t control what other people or businesses do. My best advice is to spread the word around as much as you can to others in Aqaba and maybe even bring it up to the local governor.

Here’s Doctor Vengosh’s contact page: http://fds.duke.edu/db/Nicholas/eos/faculty/vengosh – He might have more advice for you. He was very helpful for me!

Good luck and stay safe!

By: Muna

Muna — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:23:19 +0000

I live in Aqaba and I’m alarmed by the suggestion that there are high levels of radium in the water. We only drink bottled water at home, but I do use tap water for cooking and we dine out a lot and I’m sure the restaurants are using tap water.

Other than drinking bottled water and using bottled water when cooking, what other protective measures can we take?