preventive measure of water pollution by mercury?

Answer 1

One way- DO NOT build DAMS...

Dams are the number one cause of mercury pollution in H20...

Answer 2

Power plants are a huge contributor of mercury in the water. It is released from the smoke stack as a component of particulate matter (really really tiny dust, smaller than a 100 thousandth of a meter in size). Then it comes down in rain, polluting waterways and converting to methyl mercury, which is toxic to living organisms.

A good preventative measure would be to require power plants to use low-mercury coal, or perhaps to much more rigorously maintain their existing pollution control equipment (PCE) designed to capture particulate matter (e. g. baghouses and electrostatic precipitators).

I believe that simply capturing more of the dust at newer plants, and upgrading older plants with well-maintained, high-functioning pollution control equipment, would go a long way to reducing surface water mercury contamination. Right now, it is not uncommon for plants to experience what they call "excursions", which are periods of time when the PCE are bypassed or not functioning well, and when very large volumes of this dust leaves the stack unimpeded. This results in a lot more than just mercury contamination! (The dust itself is bad for human health.)

Hope this is helpful! Good luck.

Answer 3

It doesn't affect us that much because mercury is so heavy. it will only affect bottom feeders.