Philadelphia Says Radioactive Water Not Related To Japan Events

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Philadelphia Water Department is attempting to track down the source of radioactive iodine found by federal authorities in the drinking water supply drawn from the Schuylkill River.

Chris Crockett of the Philadelphia Water Department says there’s no cause for panic over the discovery by the US Environmental Protection Agency of elevated levels of iodine-131. He notes that hospitals and pharmaceutical comapnies upriver are among the potential sources of the radioactivity.

“The water is safe to drink for the public, and people should continue to drink the water and use it as normal without any changes,” he says.

Crockett says the water samples were actually collected last summer, months before the events in Japan, so there isn’t a connection to the nuclear events there.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/