A Scottish Water worker was overheard saying there’s radium in the water in Scotland and it’s making people ill but they’re not meant to be telling people.
Scotland’s water supplier says there is no radium in its drinking water.
A post on Facebook, shared almost 1,500 times, says: “So just been in a shop and overheard a Scottish water worker tell the member of staff who was serving in the shop that there’s radium in the water that’s what’s making people no well but their not supposed to be telling folk!!!!!!”
We asked Scottish Water, the nation’s water supplier, whether radium (a radioactive element that occurs naturally in the environment) had been found in its water by any of its engineers.
It told Full Fact: “There is no radium in our drinking water, which is tested rigorously to ensure it meets stringent regulatory requirements.”
We can’t know for sure what the Facebook user heard, but it’s possible they misheard the conversation.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because the country’s water supplier said there was no radium in its supplied drinking water.
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