Rivers in Southeastern Virginia have high mercury levels

[Duppers]

Toxic metal in food chain

Virginia officials vow to look closely at mercury pollution, a big problem that's hit hard in Hampton Roads.

BY PATRICK LYNCH

February 20, 2007

RICHMOND -- Testing for mercury in fish tissue the past few years has revealed a startling problem: Remote rivers in Southeastern Virginia, even the supposedly "pristine" Dragon Run, are tainted with the toxic metal.

Now a new study will seek to learn more about mercury sources in Virginia and whether the state's regulations on mercury emissions need to be tweaked.

"Our understanding of mercury's effect on the environment is incomplete," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said in a statement announcing the study. "We need more information on the steps we should take to reduce mercury contamination."

Mercury has shot up in public awareness in recent years nationwide. The naturally occurring metal is also released into the air by burning coal and through other manufacturing processes. It then falls back to earth in rain, and once in waterways, it accumulates in fish tissue.

Mercury can cause neurological problems in humans, and scientists warn that children and women of child-bearing age in particular should be careful about which - and how much - fish they eat. Mercury persists in the food chain, building up in higher levels in larger fish, and can cause developmental problems for birds and other mammals that eat fish.

Testing showed 11 of the 13 rivers and lakes in Virginia east of Richmond are mercury-tainted, and most are in Hampton Roads or on the Middle Peninsula, including Dragon Run and the Pamunkey, Mattaponi and Piankatank rivers.

Even Lake Drummond - isolated in more than 100,000 acres of Great Dismal Swamp wilderness - has unusually high levels of mercury.

Kaine said Monday that he approved $256,000 for a two-year study aimed at determining how much of the mercury that settles in Virginia waterways is released in the state and how much comes from elsewhere. A consultant, ICF Resources, has been hired to build computer models in an attempt to pin down mercury's atmospheric movements above Virginia.

Secretary of Natural Resources Preston Bryant said it is known generally that mercury gets circulated in the atmosphere but thinks Virginia lawmakers need to know more. The General Assembly called for the study last year.

"We're seeing increasingly high levels of mercury in certain waters," Bryant said.

The study will ask questions such as "Is it coming from Virginia power plants?" Bryant said. "We can assume that it is. Is it coming from West Virginia and getting caught in the westerlies? We can assume that it is. Or is it coming from China? In order to put fact to presumption, we need to do this study."

When the study's results are in hand, state officials can hold them up to Virginia's current mercury rules and see if any changes are necessary, said Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Bill Hayden. State officials hope the study simply provides more insight into mercury pollution in the state.

"What we've done in the past is focused on mercury-contaminated waters," Hayden said. "This is going to look more closely at the causes of the mercury being in the water in the first place."

The focus on reducing mercury at its source is important because the metal persists in nature for long periods.

If the study shows that a majority of mercury contamination in Virginia is coming from somewhere other than Virginia, it's not clear what the state will do.

"I don't know," Bryant said. "Let's wait and see."

Michael Town, director of the Sierra Club's Virginia chapter, said he is pleased the state is taking a closer look at mercury pollution.

Town said he hopes the study looks at the issue of mercury "hot spots" - whether certain places are more liable to be susceptible to mercury contamination because of their geography.

For example, the swampy, slow-moving rivers of eastern Virginia contain bacteria that more readily convert mercury to a compound called methylmercury, which travels more quickly and with more damage through the food chain and the human nervous system.

The Sierra Club has lobbied for more flexible emissions regulations that would allow the state to more strictly regulate certain polluters. Town said that kind of flexibility could better protect regions prone to building up mercury contamination.

"The solution is not to say, 'Don't eat the fish,' " he said. "The solution is not allow the mercury to get in the water in the first place."

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-60358sy0feb20,0,232900.story