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DERIVATION OF WILDLIFE VALUES FOR MERCURY
Citation:
Nichols, J W., S P. Bradbury, AND J. Swartout. DERIVATION OF WILDLIFE VALUES FOR MERCURY. JOURNAL OF TOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 2:325-355, (1999).
Description:
A procedure has been developed to estimate surface water concentrations of toxicants that will protect the viability of wildlife populations associated with aquatic resources. This procedure was designed primarily to protect piscivorous birds and mammals from compounds that bioaccumulate in fish and was used in the Great Lakes Water Quality initiative (GLI) to calculate wildlife values (WV) for mercury, DDT/DDE, total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD). . . . These calculations were based upon mercury speciation data that were largly unavailable when GLI was developed. Important features of the WV in the Report to Congress include its calculation on a dissolved methylmercury basis and a reliance on field data to estimate fish bioaccumulation factors. . . .
In this paper, we describe the algorithm used to derive WVs in the GLI and the Report to Congress and review its application to mercury. Scientific uncertainties in deriving WVs, particularly as they apply to mercury, are critically examined.