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Letter on EMD
"Community Update"
The
following letter to the editor of the Tahoe Daily Tribune was
our response to the omission of radon as a public health issue
in the Community Update of the Environmental Management Department
of El Dorado County.
To
The Editor, Tahoe Daily Tribune, 2/28/05
Radon
at Tahoe
Why
was radon not included as a public health issue on the purple
post card I just received from the Environment Management Department
of El Dorado County? Storm water made the "Community Report,"
but not radon. According to the EPA, radon kills 21,000 people
each year from lung cancer; how many does storm water kill?
Now granted, there are many environmental and public health
issues of concern to El Dorado County residents, but the EMD
should put them in perspective.
The
EPA, which partially funded the post card, estimates that one
house in 15 across the U.S. has radon levels high enough to
warrant mitigation. At Tahoe, it could be more like one in eight,
according to radon testers I spoke to. In a 1991 study, 69%
of the homes tested in Zephyr Cove had readings above the EPA
mitigation threshold of 4 pCi/L.
A
Tahoe Daily Tribune article on radon in 2002 stated "Soils
such as phosphates, shales and granites naturally release radon
into the atmosphere. Houses sitting on those soils tend to trap
the gas, exposing the owners to the threat of cancer."
Our granite and decomposed granite soils make Tahoe a high risk
area, though readings will vary house to house.
After
24 years of living in my house in Tahoe Paradise I tested and
found readings of 6 pCi/L. (A friend in Montgomery Estates has
radon levels of 13 pCi/L.) I was able to reduce mine from 6
to 1 pCi/L using do-it-yourself mitigation methods. Any one
can test their home with a $10 test kit; and it's FREE to California
residents. The web site http://www.RadonAtTahoe.com
has links to the free tests kits, the EPA web site and do-it-yourself
mitigation methods.
Sadly,
the EMD may not be looking out for us (though we pay them to
do that with our tax dollars), so we have to look out for ourselves.
Wake up Lake Tahoe! It's time to test for radon.
Jeff
Miner
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