Estonian waterworks treatment plants: clearance of residues, discharge of effluents and efficiency of removal of radium from drinking water.

Considerable levels of radium were detected in a certain fraction of the Estonian drinking water supply network. Some of these waterworks have treatment systems for the removal of (mainly) iron and manganese from drinking water. Three of these waterworks and another one equipped with a radium removal pilot plant were examined, and a specific study was conducted in order to assess the environmental compatibility of effluents and residues produced in the plants. (226)Ra and (228)Ra activity concentrations were analysed in both liquid (backwash water) and solid (sand filter and sediment) materials to evaluate their compliance, from the radiological point of view, with current Estonian legislation and international technical documents that propose reference levels for radium in effluents and residues. Also with regard to water treatment by-products, a preliminary analysis was done of possible consequences of the transposition of the European Basic Safety Standards Draft into Estonian law. Radium removal efficiency was also tested in the same plants. Iron and manganese treatment plants turned out to be scarcely effective, whilst the radium mitigation pilot plant showed a promising performance.