2017 May – New Norfolk (Tasmania) – Mercury

New Norfolk (Tasmania) – Mercury – [Australian Record?]

May 4 2017 – New Norfolk (Tasmania) George St – Mercury 0.00482mg/L

Metal exceedance occurred on 4/05/2017 at New Norfolk/George St. An investigation of the catchment, treatment chemicals, network, sampling process and laboratory testing revealed no obvious source of the contamination. System was flushed and resampled with all results within ADWG limits.

Mercury: Australian Drinking Water  Guideline 0.001mg/L

Mercury, if it enters the ecosystem can transform into the more toxic methylmercury where it can bioaccumulate. Methylmercury is highly toxic to human embryos, fetuses, infants and children. Mercury has numerous sources including old gold mines, where mercury was used in gold recovery process. It has been estimated that 950 tonnes of
mercury was deposited into Victorian soil, rivers and streams during the various gold rushes.
https://ntn.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/mercury_brief20101.pdf