I recently came across some land in the Malpeque area that I liked. When I asked the agent about water quality in the area I was told that it was fine but there was some Barium in the area (how it got there I have no idea). How concerned should I be about this? The agent seemed to think it wasn't a real health issue and that most people would simply install a conditioner if they were worried about the quality of their drinking water.

Is this a deal breaker or something that can be easily dealt with?

I recently came across some land in the Malpeque area that I liked. When I asked the agent about water quality in the area I was told that it was fine but there was some Barium in the area (how it got there I have no idea). How concerned should I be about this? The agent seemed to think it wasn't a real health issue and that most people would simply install a conditioner if they were worried about the quality of their drinking water.

Is this a deal breaker or something that can be easily dealt with?

How will Barium be detected in and removed from my drinking water?

The regulation for barium became effective in 1992. Between 1993 and 1995, EPA required your water supplier to collect water samples once and analyze them to find out if barium is present above 2 ppm. If it is present above this level, the system must continue to monitor this contaminant.

If contaminant levels are found to be consistently above the MCL, your water supplier must take steps to reduce the amount of barium so that it is consistently below that level. The following treatment methods have been approved by EPA for removing barium: Ion Exchange, Reverse Osmosis, Lime Softening, Electrodialysis.

Barium usually isn't much of a concern around here, natural concentrations are usually well below accepted limits. Places where it may come up is Alberta, or other oil regions, because of its use as a drilling fluid in oil/gas wells. It also doesn't bio-accumulate, so you would need to consume a lot of it all at once for adverse effects.