Green | December 28, 2008 | 5 comments

Mercury in the Bay

source: http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/mercury-in-the-bay--part-1

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covelogibbs
You might not know it from the textbooks, but California's gold rush was also a mercury rush. Quicksilver mines near San Jose provided gold miners with the mercury they needed to separate gold from ore. 150 years later, we're still facing the consequences of gold-rush era mercury, much of which is lodged in the Bay's mud and in its fish.
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5 comments // Mercury in the Bay

  • arcticspirit
    • 0
      arcticspirit  

    • Not so great. I often wonder if the culling of the dolphins in Japan is to track Mercury as well.. but they do an overkill... unless there's a big problem that isn't announced.

    • 3 years ago
  • ras_menelik
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  
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    • Gold & Coal the gifts that keep on GIVING !!

      For a 150 years twice Each day, an enormous volume of saltwater moves in and out of the San Francisco Bay with each tidal cycle. This quantity is equal to nearly one-fourth of the Bay's total volume, yet that gold-rush era mercury still hear and every where for that matter.

      Now consider the mercury spill last week, in to ground water that will not get flushed twice daily out to sea

      the hole region is going to turn into Love Canal

      forever! no "Superfund" exists to undo this only what is working in Chernobyl and Time

    • 3 years ago
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
    • 0
      SHAWN_RITTIMAN  

    • Damn, I grew up in San Jose. It is interesting how it is never mentioned by real estate agents and the like when trying to get you to relocate there!

    • 3 years ago
  • covelogibbs
    • 0
      covelogibbs  
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    • Mercury in the Bay - Part 2

      Last week, we took a look at how mercury enters the San Francisco Bay. This week: Now that it's here, how is it affecting us? Quest talks to local fisherman, a physician, and a Bay ecologist to find out how we're contending with the Bay's worst toxin.

    • 3 years ago
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