Warnings of High Levels of Mercury in Our Waters

Coming from the Southwest desert, the only times the "rivers" are full is following a flash flood. Other than that, they are referred to as "washes". A great place to ride a horse as they are virtually endless with a dry, sandy bottom. We never saw a whole lot of life in our "rivers" other than an occasional rattle snake or scorpion, besides the many lizards that dwell on the rocks and dry weeds.

Mercury was not a common concern as far as the water of the valley goes, but since moving to the swamplands of the Southern states, I have read in all the local periodicals about the warnings of high levels of mercury. The literature that prints these warnings is targeted to the people who love to fish. The St. Mary's River (Florida and Georgia) contains a consistent year round warning for those who love a good fish-fry. They are told not to eat the fish of the St. Mary's more than twice per month. Behind our homestead we enjoy a runoff of the St. Mary's River which probably contains an even higher level of the health affecting mineral. As you can imagine, we limit our consumption of the fresh water cat fish and bream to once every couple of months, if that.

My curiosity brought me to several questions about this health hazard. Do all waters contain dangerous levels of mercury? Should we be careful of salt water fish and shell fish as well as the fresh water fish of the black waters? And, of course, what damage can the mineral cause? So I did some research and in the process learned that mercury warnings from our planet's waters are a global issue. The mercury affects our coastlines as well as the lakes and rivers. In 2004 it was stated that there are mercury warnings on 75% of the United State's coastal waters, including the entire coast of Hawaii. The other 25% has not been extensively tested in order to know about a threat of high levels of the toxic substance.