Every Cloud has a Quicksilver Lining: MERCURY IN THE ENVIRONMENT

1
Every Cloud has a Quicksilver LiningMERCURY IN
THE ENVIRONMENT
Hg0
80
Hg
Hg2
200.59
CH3 Hg
2
Outline

• Background
• Mercury in Adirondack Lake/Watersheds
• Mercury in Loons
• Historical Patterns of Mercury Deposition
• Utility Emission Controls
• Conclusions

3
History of Mercury Use

• Historical Uses
• Making hat felts
• Paints
• Pesticides
• Medical uses
• Gold processing

• Recent Uses
• Chlorine manufacturing
• Electrical fixtures
• Paints
• Scientific instruments
• Dentistry

4
History of Mercury in the Environment

• 1950s 1970s Point Source Industrial
  Contamination
• Minimata Bay, Japan
• Death and neurological damage to several hundred
  people who ate contaminated fish.
• Chlor-alkali Facilities (Chlorine Production)
• - Sweden
• - U.S. Onondaga Lake
• - Canada

5
History of Mercury in the Environment (cont.)

• 1980s 1990s Remote Contamination (Atmosphere?)
• Reservoir Construction Canada
• Remote Lakes - Midwest U.S.
• - Northeast U.S.
• - Ontario
• - Quebec
• Everglades

6
Forms of Mercury

• Hg0 - Elemental Mercury
• - Gas phase, highly insoluble
• - Not highly toxic
• - High exposure to vapors cause a neurotoxic
  response, mad hatter syndrome

Hg2 - Ionic Mercury - Liquid phase,
soluble - Not highly toxic - Damage g.i.
tract, kidneys and liver
CH3Hg - Monomethyl Mercury - Biological
tissue (muscle) - Neurotoxin most toxic form
of mercury
7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
3
10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14

• Bioconcentration Factor (BCF) log

15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
Health Advisories

• U.S. FDA 1 ppm fish tissue
• Several States, Canada 0.5 ppm fish tissue
• EPA 0.3 ppm fish tissue
• WHO 30 µg/day total consumption

19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
Mercury in Adirondack Lake/Watersheds
24
(No Transcript)
25
(No Transcript)
26
Summary (n1469)
27
Total Mercury Concentrations in Precipitation at
Huntington Forest
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
(No Transcript)
33
Typical Mercury Concentration in Freshwater (ng/L)
34
Fish Hg Concentrations
35
(No Transcript)
36
(No Transcript)
37
(No Transcript)
38
(No Transcript)
39
Sunday Lake Watershed
Watershed - 1340 ha Upland vegetation - second
growth forest deciduous 70 coniferous
30 Wetlands - 20.5 of watershed
palustrine forest and shrub
conifers, riparian, beaver impoundmentsLake
Surface area - 7.7 ha Mean depth - 2.5 m
Chemistry pH 5.6 ANC 20 µeq/L DOC 10.3 mg
C/L Fish Hg Mean 3 to 5 yellow perch 0.88
µg/g
40
(No Transcript)
41
(No Transcript)
42
(No Transcript)
43
(No Transcript)
44
HgT Flux (ug/m2yr)
20.7
13.2
10.3
2.1
13.9

5.3
2.4
2.5
1.1
2.0
1.5
45
MeHg Flux (ug/m2yr)
0.27
0.31
0.06
0.29
0.13

0.26
0.45
0.36
0.62
0.13
0.14
46
Mercury in Loons
47
Geographic Context for MeHg Availability
Between
Within

• General increase from western to eastern North
  America
• New England has some of the highest levels of
  MeHg availability

48
Cumulative Perch Hg Levels Compared to Adult Loon
Blood Hg Levels
49
Loon Response to Hg

• Physiological response
• Increased levels of stress hormones

• Behavioral response
• Decreases in nesting

• Reproductive response
• High risk loon pairs
• Initiate 7 fewer nests
• Hatch 31 fewer eggs
• Fledge 40 fewer young

50
Historical Patterns of Hg Deposition
51
(No Transcript)
52
(No Transcript)
53
(No Transcript)
54
(No Transcript)
55
Sediment HgT Fluxes
Preindustrial, maximum, and modern HgT fluxes
(µg/m2-yr 1998 values) of the Adirondack study
lakes, along with the ratios obtained relative to
background values
56
(No Transcript)
57
(No Transcript)
58
Utility Emission Controls

• Utility MACT
• Proposed 15 December 2003Finalized late
  2004Compliance late 2007

59
Mercury in Adirondack Wetlands, Lakes, and
Terrestrial Systems (MAWLTS) Model
60
Model Hg Forms and Compartments

• Hg forms
• Inorganic Hg(II)
• Methylmercury
• Elemental mercury

• Compartments
• Surface Water
• Up to 5 sediment layers

61
Preliminary CalibrationTotal Hg
62
Preliminary Calibration Methyl Hg
63
Simulated Response of Total Hg 50 Decrease in
Atmospheric Deposition
64
Conclusions

• Mercury is a global contaminant.
• Mercury emissions largely occur from electric
  utilities, non-utility boilers and incinerators.
• Mercury emitted as Hg0 is globally dispersed.
  Mercury emitted as Hg (II) is deposited near the
  source.
• Methyl Hg bioconcentrates up the aquatic food
  chain.
• Virtually every state has fish consumption
  advisories due to elevated Hg.

65
Conclusions (cont.)

• The forest canopy greatly amplifies atmospheric
  Hg deposition.
• Wetlands are a critical controller of water and
  fish Hg.
• Mercury contamination has increased 5 fold over
  the last 150 years.
• Controls on Hg emissions from electric utilities
  are being proposed.

66
(No Transcript)
67
(No Transcript)
68
Background

• History of Mercury Use and Contamination
• Emissions and Deposition
• Bioaccumulation
• Health Advisories

69
(No Transcript)
70
Measured Mercury Concentration in Rain (ng/L)
71
Sediment HgT Fluxes
Preindustrial, maximum, and modern HgT fluxes
(1998 values) of the Adirondack study lakes,
along with the ratios obtained relative to
background values
72
(No Transcript)
73
(No Transcript)
74
Lakes With Representative Loon Tissue Hg Levels
(N395 terr, 238 Lakes)

75
(No Transcript)
76
Coniferous Site
Deciduous Site
Surface water sampling site
77
(No Transcript)