Agricultural and Environmental Services Laboratories
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C 858-16
Radon in Your Water
Radon is a naturally occurring, radioactive gas formed from the decay of uranium and radium found in geologic deposits. Exposure to radon gas most commonly occurs through elevated levels in home air. However, in Georgia and neighboring states there is a lesser, though still significant, risk of exposure to radon dissolved in drinking water. This circular addresses the issues on its occurrence, human exposure pathways, testing, interpretations, and remediation strategies.
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This publication covers microfiltration, which is used for physical removal of contaminants from water. It describes how these processes work, their situation-specific usefulness/applications, maintenance needed for their proper functioning, and guidance for the consumers to select the appropriate filter.
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Lime mud is a by-product produced in pulp mills as part of the process that turns wood chips into pulp for paper. The pulp mill cooks wood chips with sodium hydroxide to extract the wood fiber used to make paper from the lignin that binds the wood together. During this process, sodium hydroxide is converted to sodium carbonate. The pulp mill than adds calcium oxide, also known as quicklime, to convert the sodium carbonate back to sodium hydroxide in order to use it again. In the process, calcium carbonate is formed.
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This bulletin provides the general public a quick reference for some commonly used standards for metal concentrations in biosolids and various by-products intended for land application. Most of the standards presented here are regulatory; however, we have also included information on average metal concentrations in agricultural soils.
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Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of more than 9,000 manmade chemicals that have been in use worldwide since 1940, primarily in industry and numerous commercial and consumer products. The widespread use of PFAS for the past several decades has raised concerns due to their persistence, bioaccumulative nature, and potential adverse health effects. This publication provides information about the background, uses, and environmental and human health consequences of PFAS chemicals, as well as the EPA’s primary drinking water regulation standards and water treatment systems for removal/reduction of these chemicals from drinking water. Testing options and PFAS monitoring efforts by the Georgia EPD are included along with references for further reading.
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Cover crops have many benefits for farmers, including erosion control, weed suppression, and feeding the food soil web. Cover crops also play an important role in fertility, particularly for nitrogen.
One of the challenges facing farmers who use cover crops is quantifying the available nitrogen supplies to the following cash crop by the decomposing cover crop residues and how they might change their fertilizer management to account for this. This publication is intended to educate farmers on the nitrogen cycle, cover crops, and nitrogen; how nitrogen is released from cover crops; and the new Cover Crop Nitrogen Availability Calculator, including the steps necessary to use the Calculator.
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C 1016
Odors in Your Water
Homeowners sometimes experience unpleasant odors in their household water. In many cases, the exact cause of the odor is difficult to determine by water testing; however, this publication provides a few general recommendations for treating some common causes of household water odors.
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B 1563
Oxidizing Filters
Private well waters often contain high levels of iron, manganese, and hydrogen-sulfide. While these contaminants are not considered to have any human health consequences, they can cause various issues such as staining, impaired taste, and odor problems once their concentration exceeds certain levels, and homeowners need an appropriate system to remove them—such as an oxidizing filter. Oxidizing filters operate using oxidation, which occurs when a substance comes into contact with oxygen or another oxidizing substance. Everyday examples of oxidation are rust and the brown color that develops on a cut apple. This publication discusses various aspects of oxidizing filtration technique such as applicability, types of filter media, maintenance, etc.
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Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, is usually produced from charcoal in granular or powdered form. It is a form of carbon that has been processed (activated) to make it highly porous, with a very large surface area available for physical adsorption or chemical reactions. Among others, water treatment is an important application of activated carbon. Activated carbon filters treat general taste and odor problems, including chlorine residue, various organic chemicals, and the radioactive gas radon. This publication discusses various types of activated carbon water treatment systems, their usefulness and limitations, along with required maintenance.
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