PT17 Assessment and Remediation of Mercury Contaminated Sites
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Tuesday
(PT263) Building a multistakeholder team to address historical mercury contamination of the South River, Va.
Stahl, R1, Kain, D2, Turner, T3, Van Wart, W4, Liberati, M5, Jensen, R6, Mack, E7, Grosso, N8, Guiseppi-Elie, A9, Bugas, P10, 1 DuPont Company, Wilmington, Delaware, USA2 Virginia Dept of Environmental Quality, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA3 Virginia Dept of Environmental Quality, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA4 Virginia Dept of Environmental Quality, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA5 DuPont Company, Wilmington, Delaware, USA6 Unique Environmental Services, Wilmington, Delaware, USA7 DuPont Company, Wilmington, Delaware, USA8 DuPont Company, Wilmington, Delaware, USA9 DuPont Company, Richmond, Virginia, USA10
ABSTRACT- The South River flows northward through the city of Waynesboro, Va and continues for approximately 25 miles before it joins with the North River to become the South Fork Shenandoah River. Today it is a popular recreational resource for citizens in the Shenandoah Valley. Mercury contamination was first discovered in the water, sediment, floodplain and biota of the South River in late 1976, and traced to historical industrial activities. From 1976 to 1982 numerous chemical, biological and engineering studies were conducted leading to a decision in 1984 to allow natural attenuation to restore the river. At that time, it was predicted that over 20 to 25 years mercury levels in fish would decline by 18 to 20% from the 1976 levels. By 1999 monitoring data from the South River illustrated that mercury levels in fish were remaining close to the levels found in 1976, or declining only slightly. Levels in fish of the South Fork Shenandoah had declined compared to those found in 1976. With this as a backdrop, in 2001 scientists from state and federal regulatory agencies, industry, local citizens groups and academia formed the South River Science Team (SRST). The purpose of the SRST has been to provide a focal point for scientific investigations, data analysis and interpretation, and public outreach. Our goal is to determine why mercury levels in fish have not declined as predicted, what actions might be taken to mitigate the problem, and to insure that risks are effectively communicated to the public. The formation of the SRST, recent findings of scientific studies and plans for the future will be discussed.
Key words: Multistakeholder groups, Mercury contamination, Virginia