When Joy and Sam Braswell started to investigate the construction taking place on the southwest border of their sleepy ranch home in Buda, they never expected it would go this far.
On June 15, 2004, the Braswells discovered their fences had been cut, trees uprooted and their watershed destroyed as a developer's crew built a dam with a rock berm on their property.
Joe Bland Construction Company had begun work on a housing development just behind the Braswells' property. On July 8, Joy discovered a strange substance floating within the water, and she followed it to its source.
"I saw a pump on top of the rock berm that was being used to pump a substance over the berm onto our side of Garlic Creek," said Joy. The Braswells called the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which responded within a couple of hours, declared the dam area under criminal investigation and took samples.
The samples showed high levels of heavy metals such as lead and zinc.
Since then the Braswells have found dead free-range animals including deer, opossum, skunks and raccoons. A few weeks ago came the most alarming discovery so far: four dead rams and 11 dead lambs, which the Braswells raised. Ten more rams are displaying behavior that indicates to the Braswells that they will not survive.
"I am feeding them more than ever, but their weight continues to drop," said Joy.
After discovering the dead sheep, the Braswells decided to have some testing of their own done, so Joy sent a sample of her own hair to Genova Diagnostic labs in Arizona. The results led to the involvement of the Texas Department of Health's Radiation Control center. High levels of strontium were found in Joy's hair, along with high levels of magnesium. Strontium is a naturally occurring element that has 20 known isotopes, 16 of which are radioactive. High levels can lead to cancer and, in children, can impair bone development.
Ruben Cortez, safety officer for the radiation control branch of the Texas Department of Health, said he has seen strontium in hair samples before, but it has usually been the result of dark hair-coloring that the subject used prior to being tested. Joy Braswell has never dyed her hair, she said.
Cortez said strontium is often found in leafy plants and can be airborne or found in water, but he hasn't heard of levels this high in this part of the country for a long time.
"Since the radioactive testing of the 1950s and 1960s, we have seen strontium levels go way down," said Cortez.
The health department's lab has begun testing, and so far no radioactive materials other than strontium have come up positive. Cortez says that since strontium is so rarely found, the lab does not have a "standard sample" on hand to test the field samples of dirt and water against and must wait until one arrives at the lab.
In the meantime, the Braswells are at a loss for what to do next.
"I need to know what to do with the rest of my sheep next," said Joy. "Is it too late? Should I put them down?"
If the health department tests come back positive, the next step for Cortez and his crew will be to isolate the exact source of the radioactive material and hopefully eliminate it.
"Our ultimate goal is always to eliminate the source, but that is not always possible," said Cortez.
Radiation can come from many natural sources, like granite rock. Cortez says that every once in a while his department will get a call from a legislator that has gotten hold of a device to detect radiation and is concerned with the high levels in the Capitol, which is constructed out of granite.
"Right now we do not have a horse in this race," said Cortez. "Some cases have sounded crazy when they first came in and turned out to be something serious, but hopefully the lab will have some more conclusive answers for us soon."
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