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EPA/ORD WORKSHOP ON SOURCE EMISSION AND AMBIENT AIR MONITORING OF MERCURY. OPENING & CLOSING REMARKS AND OVERVIEW
Citation:
Hedges*, S. EPA/ORD WORKSHOP ON SOURCE EMISSION AND AMBIENT AIR MONITORING OF MERCURY. OPENING & CLOSING REMARKS AND OVERVIEW. Presented at EPA/ORD Workshop on Source Emission and Ambient Air Monitoring of Mercury, Bloomington, MN, September 13 - 14, 1999.
Description:
The Mercury Monitoring Workshop was developed because mercury contamination, both nationally and internationally, has long been recognized as a growing problem for both humans and ecosystems. Mercury is released to the environment from a variety of human (anthropogenic) sources including fossil-fuel combustors, incinerators, chlor-alkali plants, and landfills. Since this metal does not degrade to simpler compounds, once it is released to the environment it will always be present in one form or another. The 1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress indicated that mercury deposition has increased by a factor of two to five over pre-industrial levels. In general, anthropogenic emissions constitute the most significant releases of mercury in the US. Emissions include fossil fuel combustion (containing trace amounts of mercury), municipal incineration, medical waste incineration, chlor-alkali plants, and landfills. Other sources of anthropogenic mercury include industrial processes and the disposal of products containing mercury. Additionally most atmospherically-deposited mercury is in the form of gaseous or particulate-phase inorganic mercury. Inorganic mercury released into the environment can be converted, by naturally-occurring biological processes, into the highly toxic methyl mercury species. In addition to providing information on the latest developments in speciated and total mercury monitoring methods and instrumentation, this workshop addressed monitoring research needs and data quality objectives.