Half of tested homes show high radon

Jefferson County Environmental Health director Dan Miller received the results of the radon test kits he distributed in January.

The results indicate that about half of the homes in the county that were tested have a high level of radon to the point where the Environmental Protection Agency recommends those homeowners take steps to mitigate the radon in their house.

In January, Miller gave away 50 radon test kits. It was the fifth year he has given away test kits, although this year was different in that he did not receive a grant from the Iowa Department of Public Health. Last year, Jefferson County was one of only 12 counties to receive a grant to purchase radon test kits, but it was not so lucky this year.

Miller said the kits were paid for by the Fairfield Lions Club, which donated about $200 to pay for all 50 kits. He said he gave a presentation about radon to the Lions Club a year or two ago, and the members thought radon awareness was a good cause.

The test kits from earlier years also indicated that about half of the homes tested have radon levels that constituted an ?action level.? An action level refers to a radon concentration of 4 picocuries per liter of air. That is the level at which the concentration is considered dangerous enough to take steps to mitigate, which could include sealing cracks in the foundation of the house and channeling the radon into a pipe that releases it outside instead of letting it enter the house.

Radon is a cancer-causing, colorless and odorless naturally occurring radioactive gas that comes from the breakdown of uranium in the soil. States in the northern part of the country tend to have higher radon levels than southern states because of the uranium deposits the glacier left behind in the northern states when it receded thousands of years ago.

The gas enters buildings through cracks in solid floors, construction joints, gaps in suspended floors and gaps around service pipes. The only way to detect its presence is to test for it, because it cannot be seen or smelled. The EPA and the Surgeon General recommend testing all homes below the third floor for radon.

Miller said it can be difficult for people to get a sense of how harmful a picocurie of radon per liter of air really is. In terms of its cancer-causing risk, living in a house with a radon concentration of 4 pCi/L is equivalent to smoking eight cigarettes per day.

In the five years he has conducted the free test kits, Miller has discovered that some homes in Jefferson County have alarmingly high levels of the dangerous gas. One homeowner reported a radon concentration of 28.5 pCi/L, which is the equivalent of smoking 57 cigarettes per day. Miller recalled one house from an earlier year had double that level of radon.

Miller said he was very pleased with the return rate of the test kits he distributed two months ago. Those who take the free kits promise to replace the kit, which costs $6, if they make a mistake and the kit?s results cannot be read. Of the 50 kits he distributed, 49 of the kits were returned without issue. One of the kits was mailed improperly and its results could not be obtained, although Miller said the person with that kit is re-testing their house. Miller also obtained two results from people who bought their own kits and informed him of the results.

Homeowners unfortunate enough to live in a house with high radon levels can expect to pay between $800-$1,800 to have the problem mitigated. Iowans are especially at risk to have radon levels high enough to merit mitigation. According to the EPA, Iowa has the highest percentage of homes above the 4 pCi/L action level of any state in the union.

Southeast Iowa is somewhat fortunate in that its radon levels are the lowest in Iowa. The EPA indicates the homes in the 11 counties in the southeast corner, including Jefferson County, have an average radon level of 6.5 pCi/L. Homes that were tested in the northwest corner of the state have an average radon level of 9.8 pCi/L.

Miller said although the prevalence of radon is tied to the soil the house is built upon, the concentration of radon has more to do with features of the home and not the neighborhood. He mentioned a house with low radon levels could easily be adjacent to a home with high radon levels.

He said some states have begun to mandate homes be built with radon mitigation devices included, such as a pipe in the basement that goes through the walls of the house and into the attic, where the radon is released outside. Miller said people breathe radon all the time when they?re outdoors, but it?s so diluted in the air that it?s not harmful. Radon is most harmful when it?s concentrated like it is indoors, especially during the winter when windows are likely to remain shut. He said that is why radon tests are usually done in the winter, because that is when the concentration of the gas is highest.

Since radon comes up from the soil, lower levels in a home are likely to have higher concentrations than upper levels. Miller recommends testing for radon in the lowest living area of a house.