City will test radium levels

January 08, 2013, 9:00 pm by Lyn Odom

Some Llano County residents have expressed concern over the City’s proposed plans to pipe water in from the Valley Spring water supply, which is fed by the Hickory Aquifer, to meld as a supplement to the Llano River water supply.

The City of Llano has hired Hejl, Lee and Associates, engineers and consultants, to come up with the most feasible plan in which to pump the water from Valley Spring to Llano.

The Hickory Aquifer is known to contain radon, a natural contaminate which is a radioactive gas found in drinking water and indoor air. It is the decay product of radium that geologists have found in the down-dip areas of the Hickory Aquifer. According to aquifer glossaries, a down-dip is a "not flat-lying reservoir that contains gas and water.”

Hickory lies within 19 counties of the Llano Uplift, including Llano and all surrounding counties. It includes granite outcroppings and down-dips, both of which occur in Llano County, and which are instrumental in the life of the Hickory Aquifer.