March 10, 2008

Area Agencies Team Up on Mercury Awareness

In the past three weeks there have been four mercury spill incidents in the Treasure Valley, two in area schools, one in a private home, and one on a public street.  While none of these incidents has resulted in any long-term problems for people or the environment, they do serve as a reminder that mercury can pose dangers.  Mercury should be handled with care and properly disposed of.  Five area agencies teamed up to raise public awareness of the dangers mercury at a news conference Friday March 7, 2008. 

The two school incidents took place at St. Joseph Elementary School in Boise on February 22nd, and at Emmett High School on February 15th.  The Hazardous Materials Response Unit of the Boise Fire Department responded to the event at St. Joseph School, where a glass jar containing mercury had be dropped and liquid metal splattered across the floor.  While the HazMat team was able to do the initial clean-up, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Emergency Response Team from Seattle was called in for further assessment and remediation with specialized equipment.  EPA also responded to the incident at Emmett High School where a mercury thermometer had been broken in a chemistry room storage area, and to the discovery of elemental mercury in a gutter in suburban Eagle.

Greg Weigel, On-scene Coordinator for the regional EPA office, says each response by the Emergency Response Team costs the agency between $15,000 and $60,000.  While floor boards and tiles had to be pulled up to recover tiny droplets of mercury at each school, the effort was successful in removing any future danger of exposure.

“We are very certain there is no remaining long term health threat for either of those schools.”  Said Weigel at the news conference.

Rob Howarth, Environmental Health division director at the Central District Health Department, explained that mercury is dangerous because it vaporizes at room temperatures.  Inhaling the vapor poses the greatest threat to human health.  Short term exposure can lead to skin rashes, chills, nausea, fatigue, chest pains, breathing trouble and diarrhea.  Long term exposure, which is unlikely unless mercury spills are not cleaned up, can cause kidney failure and nerve damage.

There are many products used in homes and businesses that contain mercury. Typical sources are thermometers, older thermostats, batteries, fluorescent light bulbs and barometers. The Ada County landfill has a household hazardous waste facility where citizens of the county can drop off everything from old paint and pesticides to car batteries and mercury thermometers. In 2001 the county and its partners launched a thermometer exchange program that has resulted in tens of thousands of mercury thermometers being exchanged for digital thermometers.

“Mercury contamination is a legitimate concern we all should be worried about.” Said Dave Neal, Director of the Ada County Landfill, “its far better, and far cheaper, to act now as opposed to later. Acting later will be costly, and more importantly, potentially life-threatening.”

From the incidents at the two area schools it’s apparent that classrooms in this area and around the state may harbor mercury and other toxic chemicals. In 2005 the state Department of Environmental Quality established the Idaho Chemical Roundup program to help provide schools with financial assistance to properly manage and dispose of the chemicals in their store rooms.

“To date we have helped 22 Idaho schools remove 1400 pounds of unneeded chemicals from their labs,” Said Joanna Pierce, Pollution Control Specialist with the Department of Environmental Quality. “And we are currently accepting applications from Idaho schools for the next round mini-grants that will allow them to clean up their store rooms.” The application deadline is April 1, 2008 for grants up $2500.

DEQ has also initiated the Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program to help salvage yards properly dispose of switches used to automatically turn lights on when the hood or trunk of a car was opened. Mercury switches are also used in the anti-lock braking systems of some cars. Participating salvage yards can earn one dollar for each light switch and two dollars for every brake switch.

Resources for more information on the dangers of mercury and how to properly dispose of it are available on the Central District Health Department - Public Health Preparedness website.