Mercury Rising In Great Lakes Fish

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DEERSLAYER
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Re: Mercury Rising In Great Lakes Fish

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Sun Mar 26, 2017 8:45 am

All the adds that kept popping up froze up my browser so I didn't read the article, but Mercury levels going up don't surprise me. I know a guy that worked for the Cobb plant (which closed recently because it cost too much to upgrade like the EPA wanted) and he got angry because the EPA made them spend millions to increase efficiency "just" to capture about "one pound!" of mercury per year. What the average guy doesn't realize is that the amount of mercury that used to be in one of those small mercury switches they used to put in car trunks many years ago for the trunk light contained enough mercury to make the fish inedible for generations in a lake the size of my local 225 acre lake. Mercury is extremely potent. We put a lot more pollution into our environment than most people realize and most of it is being done legally or at least being enforced with a slap on the wrist because it isn't considered too bad. We hear of the EPA being bullies and being heavy handed, but that's not the case in many situations. Especially when it comes to local regulators handling things. The more you learn about the pollution being done the angrier you get at the government for all the pollution they have allowed and continue to allow.
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Re: Mercury Rising In Great Lakes Fish

Unread postby Jonny » Sun Mar 26, 2017 9:27 am

Effluent limits are typically based off technology capabilities. Or surveying treatment plants and finding what the average plant can do while operating at an efficient level.

The more environmentally dangerous materials are usually technology based. The limits that aren't technology based, cover materials that aren't environmentally dangerous.

I agree that way more pollution goes into the environment than there should be, but hearing horror stories from my environmental engineering professors about local rivers in Milwaukee, it could be much worse. The treatment plant in Milwaukee actuall puts cleaner water into Lake Michigan than what is already there and being pulled out for drinking water.

All of the information regarding permit limits for discharging effluent can be found online. The only issue with the Great Lakes, is you have 2 countries discharging into the system. Chances are, they do not have the same standards.

Green Bay recently went under treatment to remove Mercury contaminated material in the bay and the fox river. 20-30 years ago, you probably would grow a tail if you ate a walleye from there. Now? I have eaten walleyes up to 30" out of there and they taste much better than an 18" from the Mississippi.

Sewage and wastewater treatment has come a long way. It could be better, but it could be much worse.
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Re: Mercury Rising In Great Lakes Fish

Unread postby headgear » Mon Mar 27, 2017 2:38 am

We just can't keep polluting forever, things are getting better but taking it a step further and thinking long term is the key. We need some huge technology advances in the near future or we are in trouble long term.
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Re: Mercury Rising In Great Lakes Fish

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:30 am

I've done a fair amount of mercury research in my day. From research at the Experimental Lakes Area in Canada to studies Great Lake studies on the EPA Lake Guardian and everything in between. The trend isn't surprising. Atmospheric deposition is the worse and had a higher tendency to methylate to methylmercury and bioacumulative. It's a global problem for sure.


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