Mercury in Water

Mercury is a neurotoxin that harms the lungs, the kidneys, the immune system, the heart and the brain.  The young and the unborn  are most at risk and severe developmental problems can result from mercury poisoning. Mercury can be a water contaminant, but eating poisoned fish is the main cause of mercury poisoning in humans.

For mercury contaminated water, the EPA-recommended treatments that are available to residential users are activated carbon filtration, reverse osmosis, and distillation. Mercury exists as an organic contaminant (that’s what poisons fish) and an inorganic pollutant.  It is the inorganic form that contaminates drinking water.

According to a 2012 report from the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), over half of the Great Lakes region’s noxious mercury pollution can be attributed to the 25 worst coal-fired power plants in the Great Lakes area.   Nationwide, over half of mercury pollution comes from coal-fired power plants.

Reference: Your Bass Guy