DHEC begins study on mercury pollution in Florence area

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is beginning a study on mercury pollution in Florence area waterways.

The focus on the Pee Dee comes after the public outcry over this issue during the many public meetings and hearings related to Santee Cooper’s proposed 600-megawatt coal-fired generation facility earlier this year, DHEC spokesman Adam Myrick said.

The state-owned utility tabled plans for the facility, called the Pee Dee Energy Campus, in late August. It was to have been located on a 2,709-acre tract in Kingsburg.

“We heard the questions and concerns. This is our response,” Myrick said.

Previous DHEC studies of mercury levels in fish from the Great Pee Dee River show that it is a hotbed of concern. The agency issued a fish advisory for the consumption of largemouth bass, bowfin (mudfish), blue catfish and redear sunfish that are caught from that body of water.

DHEC officials are hoping to now focus on the effects of mercury pollution on humans.

“What need to determine if we have a problem and establish a data baseline. There’s no data really out there right now,” Myrick said.

DHEC is working with health department contacts to take blood samples of residents in the Pee Dee. Officials also said they hope to develop partnerships with national organizations that will allow for more random and routine sampling.

Mercury poisoning is extremely harmful to humans. The body naturally removes small amounts of mercury, but consuming too much of a certain type of fish can cause health problems.

In infants and babies, it can cause brain damage, seizures and blindness. For children under 14, it can cause digestive problems, kidney damage and affect the nervous system. In adults, vision or hearing problems can occur, as well as numbness in the mouth, hands or feet.

For Peggy Brown, the League of Women Voters natural resource director and Sierra Club conservation chairwoman for South Carolina, having DHEC acknowledge that every river and stream in Florence is contaminated with high levels of mercury is the first step.

In April, local environmentalists decided to carry out their own investigation of the mercury content in the Great Pee Dee River by having their hair cut to be tested for elevated mercury levels. This was all in an effort to prove the proposed coal-generated power plant could worsen an already existing problem.

“During the opposition of the coal plant, the mercury levels that were discovered were very alarming, especially for the people that rely on the fish from these bodies of water as their food supply,” Brown said.

DHEC is working with local health department contacts to take blood samples of residents in the Pee Dee. They hope to also develop partnerships with national organizations that will allow for a more random and routine sampling.

Coal-burning power plants are the largest human-caused source of mercury emissions to the air in the United States, according to the DHEC.

With 12 coal-burning power plants and 376 other facilities in South Carolina that emit mercury, the results of this study will help determine what needs to be done to solve this complex problem.

For more information on DHEC fish advisories and what you can do to prevent mercury poisoning, visit http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/water/fish/index.htm online.