Texas Radioactive Piping Injury Lawsuits. Texas Radioactive Piping, Plumbing Lawsuits Radioactive piping and plumbing in Texas may be putting untold numbers of people at risk for cancer and other serious health problems. According to one report from Texas regulators, some of the affected water systems in the state contain water so contaminated that it that would produce an additional cancer for every 400 persons. Unfortunately, it appears that Texas officials may have actively worked to cover-up the radioactive danger posed by pipes and plumbing in many of the state’s communities. As a result, residents were not warned about the radiation in their drinking water, even when it was above legal limits.
If your family has been endangered by radioactive piping or plumbing in Texas, you may have valuable legal rights. The environmental law attorneys at Parker Waichman LLP are offering free lawsuit consultations to anyone who believes their health was put at risk due to radioactive water. To discuss a potential lawsuit claim, please contact one of the experienced environmental law lawyers at Parker Waichman LLP today.
Radiation-Contaminated Water in Texas
In 2011, a Texas television station reported that drinking water in Texas was making pipes and plumbing radioactive. According to the report from KHOU 11 News in Houston, the contamination was the result of years of exposure to drinking water that already tests over federal legal limits for radioactive radium. Because water quality testing is done before the water runs through the contaminated pipes, even more radiation could seep into the water undetected from the contaminated pipes before it exits the tap. In some cases, pipes in Texas have been found to be so radioactive, metal recycling scrap yards will not accept them.
According to KHOU 11 News, a white paper produced by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) identified a main source of Texas water as radium contaminated. The TCEQ had initially refused to release the paper after a public-records request, and only did so under order from the Attorney General of Texas. The Texas report states that “over 200,000 Texans drink water from public water systems which are contaminated with relatively high levels of radium and other naturally occurring radioactive material.” The state paper names the Hickory Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to much of central Texas, as one of the most contaminated in the state, and says, “without a feasible means to treat the drinking water and manage the residuals, the Hickory Aquifer would become unusable as a public drinking water source.”
“What these data show are the amount of radionuclides in our water are so high that they could cause cancer, birth defects or kidney disease,” Tom “Smitty” Smith of Public Citizen, a government watchdog group , told KHOU 11 News. “Study after study has indicated these are real threats.”
The KHOU investigation also found that TCEQ would doctor reports so that they would not violate federal limits for radiation in drinking water, even though tests performed by the agency showed the water exceeded the legal limit for alpha radiation. The practice continued until a 2009 audit by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the state now is reportedly in compliance with EPA regulations. But prior to 2008, anyone in the affected areas may have been drinking water that contained radiation above legal limits.
Legal Help for Victims of Texas Radioactive Piping
If your family’s health was put at risk because of radioactive pipes and plumbing in Texas, you may have valuable legal rights. For a free lawsuit evaluation, please contact the environmental lawyers at Parker Waichman LLP today.
