More than three years ago, Japan was hit with a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, and among the catastrophic damage caused was radiation-contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant leaking into the Pacific Ocean.

In the vast expanse of the Pacific, the radiation was supposed to be diluted to the point that it posed no threat to the U.S. once it drifted east, but now some conservationists on the West Coast are worried that the so-called trace amounts of radiation may be more dangerous than originally reported.

There is currently no federal organization monitoring the radiation levels from Fukushima, according to news reports. A group will study water off Oregon's coast to test for radiation, according to a report from UPI. The Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, an organization dedicated to the conservation of estuaries and watersheds in western Oregon, has started collecting water sampled from the Pacific, the UPI reported.

"The predicted modeling shows that we should start to see it coming along our coastline at very low levels," Lisa Phipps, executive director of the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, told UPI. "When we took this on, it wasn't to incite any kind of fear in people. It is a data collection effort."

Some people, however, including a general contractor in Brandon, Oregon, are worried, the Statesman Journal reported.

"We've been worried about it and worried about it," Zac Adams, the owner of Brandon Designs, told the Statesman Journal. "We're really concerned about it affecting the fisheries, the wildlife, the tourism and, most importantly, our health."

According to the Statesman Journal, Adams has joined with other citizens and formed a crowdfunded group that will also test Oregon's ocean water. In total, about 30 conservation groups, from Alaska to Baja, California, that will test ocean water for radiation have already been funded, the Statesman Journal reported.

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