Water treatment plant confirmed as our best option

Talk about unexpected consequences.

We've been dealing with the consequences of over-fertilization and cattle waste runoff for decades, but now there's a new study linking high-nitrate water with increased uranium contamination in groundwater.

It was disappointing to us at the time that a clean, safe source of untreated groundwater couldn't be arranged for the City of McCook as we searched for low-nitrate water back in the 1980s and 1990s, but it turns out our modern water treatment plant was the best choice after all.

A new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study indicates that high-nitrate water converts uranium from a solid state to a soluble form that can contaminate water used for drinking and irrigation.

McCook's plant, completed in 2006, can remove nitrates, arsenic and uranium from up to 6.5 million gallons of water per day.

The UNL study found that 78 percent of groundwater samples collected from areas with high levels of nitrates were found to also contain unsafe levels of uranium.

The study examined California groundwater as well as the High Plains Aquifer, which most of us call the Ogallala Aquifer, covering 174,000 square miles in parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.

Some 275,000 water samples were collected from the High Plains Aquifer as well as the Central Valley Aquifer in California.

The Environmental Protection Agency says uranium shouldn't exceed 30 micrograms per liter in drinking water, and some studies suggest that uranium might accumulate in certain crops if they are irrigated with contaminated water. Prolonged exposure to high levels of uranium in water has been linked to kidney problems and increased cancer risk.

McCook's water was running about 35 parts per billion in 2005, according to the EPA, and current treatment takes it below the 30 ppb level deemed safe.

It shouldn't have been a surprise that letting nitrates build up in our groundwater would create problems we hadn't predicted.

It should, however, be a reminder that any actions involving the environment have long-term consequences.