Hey all,
I have a question regarding my well water.  We had a gross alpha water test done on our water well.  I live in northwest Montana and these issues are just up and coming in the area.  anyways we tested at 10.2picocurries/l for gross alpha emitters in our water which is below EPA's 15pc/l limit.  EPA says if we are above 5 but less that 15 to consider testing for specific things like radium and uranium.  The lab tech said because our air test showed only little amounts of radon 2.7pc/liter that the chances of it being in the water were extremely slim.  He also stated that our numbers for the water test were not high enough to indicate a uranium problem because for uranium to be at harmful levels our gross alpha would be wayyyy higher.  From my research and his it looks like radium has not been known to be a problem in the area.  My question is am i being paranoid to want to put in a water system or should it be fine.  Reverse osmosis systems will remove basically everything from the water but they are very expensive and seems overkill.  I've also heard that reverse osmosis can be hard on fixtures and appliances due to something about it leaching metals out of the fixtures and causing corrosion???   I'm not worried about showering etc because alpha cant even penetrate the skin and it is only a problem when inhaled via a gas or ingested.  Should I or shouldn't i remediate issues?

Thanks,
Thomas

I got my Omni-Filter undersink RO drinking water system for $80 on clearance. You could likely get a nice one for less than $200. Watch out and read the reviews, there are some real turds out there (Dupont's easy-change filter system being one of them).

I'm super happy with my system...

Get a whole house system and quit being cheap.  You want to live in a house and not be able to drink the water from anywhere?  Fuck that. I'd sell it.  

Whole house system or sell it

It will be fine, your below the limit.

You will get more exposure working outside in the sun than drinking the water.