INJECTING WASTEWATER UNDERGROUND COULD INCREASE MERCURY LEVELS IN GROUNDWATER

摘要

New research by a scientist at the non-profit marine research organization Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) suggests there are increased levels of mercury in Cape Cod's groundwater. Biogeochemist Carl Lamborg claims that the naturally low concentration level of mercury in wastewater can increase during treatment processes that break down waste, due to microbial action that transforms it into a more toxic form of the chemical. His research, published in Environmental Science and Technology, looked at the level of mercury and its forms in water and ground samples taken between 2010 and 2012 from the area around a wastewater treatment plant run by the Massachusetts Military Reservation. He noticed that pumpers, collection system workers and treatment plant operators.