IEA_AARST_Radon_Reporter_JUNE_2024

16 | June 2024 DATA/MAPPING Author’s Note: After 13 years of operating a successful radon testing company in Illinois I moved to Florida to start over. When sharing my radon expertise with my Florida realtor, he remarked with surprise, “I’ve been a realtor for 16 years and have never even heard of anyone doing a radon test.” Considering Florida has a mandatory radon disclosure statement for Real Estate documents, I was amazed by his response. Over the past three years of living in Florida, I have routinely encountered similar disbelief in radon from various sources - realtors, developers, and residents alike. Statements such as “There is no radon in Florida because I’ve never heard of it,” or “the water table is too high for radon,” or “radon is only found in basements.” Some point to the EPA map of radon zones as why testing is not needed. Frankly, I was annoyed and wanted some hard data to show disbelievers. The FL Department of Health reports “1 in 5 Florida residences has radon levels above the EPA action level.” 1 The CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking hosts a comprehensive website 2 that includes state and county radon data and statistics. However, I kept coming up with questions for which I could not find the answers. It was this quest for detailed county information that led me to obtain the raw data from the Florida Department of Health for over 300,000 test results conducted across Florida over 33 years. This endeavor led to the creation of what I term the Florida Radon Map Project. (https:// radontestingservices.net/florida-radon-map/) . From this interactive map, any county can be selected to see a quick overview of the historical radon test data for that county. Augmenting the map are county-specific data sheets that provide additional details for that county. The Florida Radon Map Project serves as a free resource for anyone interested in understanding radon distribution in Florida. I hope it plays a beneficial role in the Florida radon industry and contributes to dispelling myths, raising awareness, and promoting safer living environments. 1 https://www.floridahealth.gov/environmental-health/radon/ 2 https://www.cdc.gov/radon/index.html The Florida Radon Map Project By Mark Perry, Radon Testing Services The Big Picture - Statewide The pie chart below shows the big picture of where the results landed. This validates what the FDOH has said for years: one-in-five Florida homes have elevated radon and should be fixed. Moreover, the data indicate that an additional 27% of homes fall within the cautionary range of 2.0 to 3.9 pCi/L, warranting consideration for mitigation consistent with EPA recommendation and ANSI/AARST measurement standards. The highest validated radon result in FL was from a house in Tallahassee, testing at 307.1 pCi/L.