Creation of a catalog of environmental mercury databases in Kentucky

Mercury is a potent toxin to humans, with the nervous system of the developing fetus being the most susceptible to its effects. The primary route of exposure is ingestion of mercury through fish consumption. In Kentucky, mercury levels in fish tissue are regularly out of compliance with the Clean Water Act resulting in fish consumption advisories. A better understanding of the relationship between environmental mercury sources and mercury levels in fish is necessary to plan strategies to reduce these levels in order to protect human health. This project surveyed the available mercury databases for the state of Kentucky and created a database catalog.

Databases were identified by contacting federal, regional, state, and local agencies. For each identified database, the catalog includes a review of the sampling strategy, collection method, form(s) of mercury, collection sites, date range, frequency of sampling, and data format. Quality assurance and quality control methods were reviewed to evaluate the reliability of the data. The catalog also includes how the database is accessed, and maps of mercury emission sources and sampling sites.

This study found a lack of uniformity across agencies in the species of mercury sampled, variation in quality control, differences in ease of access, and uncoordinated sampling strategies between agencies. The Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection is addressing these issues by transitioning to a new database platform, COMPASS, that will facilitate the access of data kept by all divisions within the department, and bringing these divisions together to discuss a shared strategy for monitoring mercury.