Water in Northern Chiba High on Radioactive Iodine on March 22

And they announced the result 7 days later on March 29. What's more, as I've found out, they didn't even send the samples for testing until March 28 at the earliest.

Iodine-131's half-life is, as everybody with a brain cell left knows by now, is 8 days.

Is this a joke? No it is not a joke.

Nikkei Shinbun (link added; 9:29PM JST 3/29/2011) reports:

　千葉県と複数の自治体で構成する北千葉広域水道企業団は29日、江戸川を水源とする北千葉浄水場（流山市）で22日に採取した水から一般向けの国の暫定規制値（１キログラムあたり300ベクレル）を超える336ベクレルの放射性ヨウ素を検出したと発表した。

Kitachiba (Northern Chiba) Water Supply Authority, which is made up of Chiba Prefecture and several municipalities in Chiba, announced on March 29 that it had detected 336 becquerel radioactive iodine that exceeds the provisional limit of 300 Becquerel/kilogram from the water sample taken in Kitachiba Water Purification Plant in Nagareyama City on March 22. Kitachiba Water Purification Plant takes water from the Edogawa river.

　北千葉浄水場から直接送水しているのは野田市、柏市、流山市、我孫子市、八千代市、松戸市、習志野市。県営水道を通じ、鎌ケ谷市、船橋市、白井市にも送っている。

Kitachiba Water Purification Plant supplies water to Noda City, Kashiwa City, Nagareyama City, Abiko City, Yachiyo City, Matsudo City, Narashino City. It also supplies water to the Prefectural Water, which supplies to Funabashi City and Shirai city.

　同企業団によると、22日の水は現在の水道管にほとんど残っていないが、長期間水道を使っていなければ「バケツ１～２杯の水を捨ててから使って」と呼びかけている。

According to Kitachiba Water Supply Authority, water from March 22 is no longer in the water mains, but if users haven't used water for long time they should dump the first one or two buckets of water [as a precaution].

Well, water from March 22 is no longer in the water mains, because PEOPLE USED THE WATER as usual, without knowing there was radioactive iodine in it that exceeded the limit.

The Japanese message boards re-posted this article, and the readers' comments are those of resignation. Some examples of the comments from one of the boards (original messages in Japanese):

What can we do when we're told about the event that took place over a week ago?

I didn't know that Chiba is in a different time zone.

What a clever idea to announce one week later. No panic buying of water.

People drank that water. Babies and children. This is the end.

No need to panic. Chiba residents are tough.

You would think people would riot by now. But that's not happening in Japan. Japanese can't even get angry enough.

I'm marveled at how they try their best to conceal. At this point, why don't they just hide everything? [No point in telling us anything.]

The media and the top politicians think they are still fighting the Great East Asia War (World War II).

What about before March 22? Maybe one day before it was over 600 Becquerel.

I'm from Kyushu, but come on, Kanto people, don't resign to your fate! Time to get angry!

Bloody murderers...

Never heard of this Water Authority. Are we supposed to trust them for telling the truth?

Hmmmm... No wonder I felt great last week.

Water's tasting great these days.

My wife used the water to make baby formula. Too late now.

Did they collect the sample on March 22 but waited until March 29 to test it?

Oh wait, the article doesn't say WHEN the sample was tested. It says the sample taken on March 22 was tested, and the result was announced on March 29.

So I went to the website of Kitachiba Water Supply Authority, and here's what I found. In essence, the last message I quoted above was right.

From their March 29, 2011 announcement (emphasis is mine):

　昨日、八千代市上下水道局から、以下のとおり企業団が送水している八千代市睦浄水場受水地点における放射性物質の分析結果について情報提供がありました。

　　　採水地点：八千代市睦浄水場受水地点
　　　採水日時：平成２３年３月２２日（火）19:30頃
　　　分析結果：放射性ヨウ素131

Yesterday (March 28) we were informed by the Yachiyo City Water District about the radioactive materials detected in the water at Yachiyo City Mutsumi Water Purification Plant's water intake. The water is supplied by us.
Sample collected at: water intake at Yachiyo City Mutsumi Water Purification Plant
Sample collection date: 7:30PM on March 22, 2011
Detected: radioactive iodine (iodine 131)

　当企業団は、この情報を受け、急遽、保管してあった３月２１日、２２日採水の「浄水」２試料を分析機関に持ち込み放射性物質を測定した結果、３月２２日 ９時１５分に採水した試料から、以下のとおり放射性物質が検出されました。なお、３月２１日の試料については、放射性ヨウ素、放射性セシウム共に検出され ておりません。

After the information [on Yachiyo City's water tested with high iodine-131] was received [on March 28], we rushed the samples we had taken on March 21 and 22 to a 3rd-party laboratory for analysis. From the sample taken at 9:15AM on March 22 the following radioactive materials were detected. There was no radioactive iodine or cesium in the March 21 sample.

It was not until March 28 that Kitachiba Water Supply Authority started having the water tested daily. And they don't even have their own facility to test the water quality.

Well, these agencies seem to all act the same. Remember my previous post on the US EPA in California? They mail the air samples collected by the volunteers to Alabama and wait several days to learn about radioactive materials in the air, and that's OK, no one has said "boo about it."

And I may add that the Japanese media is either lazy or complicit. The Nikkei's reporter could have gone to the Water Supply Authority's website and found out the same thing I've found out: that they sat on the samples until one of the water plants informed them of their own test result of the sample they took on March 22 but didn't receive the result back until March 28 (either that or they also didn't bother to test until March 28).

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