Radon in ground water in Guilford County, North Carolina

Approximately 30 percent of the water used in Guilford County, North Carolina, is from ground-water sources. All rural supplies are from ground water; approximately 65,000 residents used ground water for their domestic water supplies in 1990.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Guilford County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Guilford County Department of Health, began a study in 1996 of the hydrogeology of Guilford County to update previous work. As part of this effort and according to methods presented in Koterba and others (1995), dissolved radon samples were collected from 70 wells throughout the county. Because radon in ground water poses a potential health hazard, this report presents results from this sampling effort and the implications that radon may have on ground-water use in Guilford County.