Citation:

Impact/Purpose:

The purpose of this product is to establish a method of quantitatively predicting the spatial distribution and extent of reductions in fish tissue mercury concentrations, in response to a given spatially distributed reduction in air-deposited mercury watershed loads. The intended use of the Mercury Maps project is as a component in a quantitative benefits analysis for national technology-based air emission reduction rules. Additionally, the Mercury Maps project is intended for use as a component in developing and/or evaluating proposed risk-based mercury air emission regulations.

Description:

Mercury Maps is a geographic information system (GIS) that relates percent changes in air deposition to percent changes in fish tissue concentration, on a national scale. Mercury Maps documentation derives a simple model, incorporated in the GIS, from recent detailed kinetics-based mercury fate and transport models. The abridged model states that for long-term steady state conditions, reductions in fish tissue concentrations are expected to track linearly with reductions in air deposition watershed loads. Mercury Maps also separates watersheds into categories of those in which air deposition is the sole significant source of mercury and those in which water discharge are also significant. The GIS includes gold mines, mercury mines, chlor-alkali facilities, pulp and paper mills, publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) and other facilities known to contribute significant mercury loads to waterbodies.

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