DIRECTOR'S CORNER
Update: Mercury in the environment
Reducing mercury in the environment is one of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s highest priorities.
To accomplish this, DEQ is working to gain a better understanding of mercury sources and the extent of contamination, and reducing its use in businesses. From mercury’s presence in air emissions to its deposition in waterways, it reaches many aspects of DEQ’s work.
The agency has assembled a committee of air, water, waste and pollution prevention experts to develop a strategy for addressing mercury in the environment. The committee is working on a way to integrate DEQ’s efforts for a unified approach to reducing mercury contamination. In the meantime, agency programs will continue efforts to monitor and reduce mercury.
In 2003 results of sampling in Virginia’s coastal rivers and lakes led to fish consumption advisories in the Great Dismal Swamp Canal and portions of the Blackwater River and Dragon Run Swamp. Based on DEQ’s expanded monitoring of other coastal waters, the Virginia Department of Health issued fish consumption advisories for six other rivers and small lakes in 2004 and for additional stream miles and Lake Drummond near the Dismal Swamp Canal in 2005.
In the summer of 2006 DEQ will continue to monitor mercury-sensitive waters along the coast. Sampling is planned in the Rappahannock River watershed and the headwaters of the Blackwater River in Prince George, Surry and Sussex counties.
The environmental conditions in these rivers, lakes and swamps near the coast are favorable for the conversion of mercury into methylmercury, which accumulates in fish and is toxic. Efforts are under way to identify mercury sources, and DEQ and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science are also monitoring the air deposition of mercury on the Middle Peninsula.
Unlike the waters along the coast, the source of mercury contamination in the South River and South Fork Shenandoah River is well documented. Mercury was used by Du Pont Co. in Waynesboro in fiber production between 1929 and 1950. Mercury contamination in the South River was discovered in the 1970s and now extends to the South Fork Shenandoah River.
DEQ, in partnership with the South River Science Team, regularly takes samples of water, fish tissue and sediments in these rivers. The latest report from these efforts show that the amount of mercury in fish collected in 2005 from the South River and South Fork Shenandoah River has not changed significantly since 2002. Several fish species continue to have mercury levels of 0.5 parts per million or higher, which is the action level set by the Virginia Department of Health.
The good news is that stocked trout from the South River are still safe to eat. Mercury concentrations in trout collected in fall 2004 are no higher than 0.1 ppm, and they remain below the level of concern.
On other fronts, several legislative and regulatory proposals are being addressed that would reduce mercury in the environment. The Virginia General Assembly has passed legislation that would reduce mercury from coal-fired power plants, and separate legislation would require the removal and recycling of mercury in under-the-hood convenience light switches in automobiles. The Air Pollution Control Board began considering the mercury issue in 2005 and will adopt regulations to implement this year's legislation affecting power plants.
As this work progresses, DEQ remains dedicated to ensuring that people’s exposure to mercury is as low as possible. Clean air, water and land are vitally important to the health of Virginians, the environment and the economy, and DEQ will continue to work to protect these resources.