Radon in Water

[NEL]

Hi all,

I'm a long time lurker but could really use some opinions and am hoping that someone here might have experience with this. We just finished inspections on a home that has a radon mitigation system installed for the air (very common here). However, the house has a private well and the results from our water test showed almost twice the recommended level of radon for having a water treatment system installed.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Would it be a concern for you, assuming that the radon can be mitigated? The type of mitigation system we have been reading about (aeration) is quite a bit more expensive than the air mitigation systems, probably around $4,000-$5,000, and that is to eliminate up to 99% of the radon in the water.  Is this something you would walk away over? We are concerned about the quality of the water but also the maintenance of having an additional mitigation system and re-sale value of the home. Thanks!

[mrs.jacinthe]

Provided that the water mitigation system is as effective as they say, I would not be alarmed. I would, however, ask for seller concessions on this issue and additionally keep the offer contingent upon successful mitigation.

[tripleshot]

Can I ask where you live? We have a well and I just talked to a radon guy Thursday asking if we should test our water. He said radon in water doesn't exist here and didnt recommend wasting the money. We are going to test the air though since its usually a problem. We're in NE OH.

[NEL]

Mar 2, 2013 20:57:20 GMT -5 tripleshot said:

Can I ask where you live? We have a well and I just talked to a radon guy Thursday asking if we should test our water. He said radon in water doesn't exist here and didnt recommend wasting the money. We are going to test the air though since its usually a problem. We're in NE OH.

We are in CT. From my understanding, the main concern with radon in the water is that it gets released into the air when showering, washing dishes, etc. There is also a risk with ingestion, but apparently it's not nearly as big of a risk. So, I *think* usually if there is not a problem with the air, they don't recommend that you need to have the water tested.   

[NEL]

Mar 2, 2013 16:02:01 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Provided that the water mitigation system is as effective as they say, I would not be alarmed. I would, however, ask for seller concessions on this issue and additionally keep the offer contingent upon successful mitigation.

Thanks for chiming in. It's definitely something we would ask the sellers to pay for. I think I just need to call and speak with a mitigation company to see what they say. Part of our concern is if they installed the mitigation system and it brought the level to just under what was considered the line for recommended treatment. We probably still wouldn't be comfortable at that level. We are really torn over this because the house has almost everything else that we wanted and we have been looking for a long time, but it's bothersome to know that it's something we could never completely erradicate. 

[new2this2]

I would be fine with the mitigation system if it really was effective. You could always say that they would have to pay for it and the level would need to be at XXX.