The Sierra Fund Carrie Monohan, Ph.D. Science Director

The Sierra Fund Carrie Monohan, Ph.D. Science Director

Mercury and the Gold Rush SOURCE: USGS Fact Sheet 2005-3014

Mercury and the Gold Rush Mercury was used during hard rock and hydraulic mining. It is still entrained in the river gravels. Deer Creek 1908 Greenhorn Creek 2011

Mercury in Fish

Selenium: A Silver Bullet? There is an Se-Hg effect Does it negate the effects of MeHg in humans? Human study on Se-MeHg effects? Many human studies on MeHg effects: Harvard mercury researcher Philippe Grandjean Cognitive performance of children prenatally exposed to safe levels of methylmercury Methylmercury neurotoxicity in Amazonian children downstream from gold mining Jane Hightower, M.D. Mercury levels in high-end consumers of fish

Cal/EPA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). December 2003 (updated 2009). Health Advisory for Selected Water Bodies in the Northern Sierra Nevada Foothills (Nevada, Placer, and Yuba Counties).

Fish Sampling in Feather River Watershed 1) California State Department of Public Health, 1971 Mercury in the California Environment 2) UC Davis, 1997 Gold mining impacts on food chain mercury in northwestern Sierra Nevada streams 3) USGS, 2000 Water-Quality Assessment of the Sacramento River Basin, California: Organic Contaminant and Trace Element Surveys of Streambed Sediment and Tissue of Aquatic Organisms 4) Toxic Substances Monitoring Program, 2002 State Water Resources Control Board SWRCB-DWQ 5) PG&E, 2006 Upper North Fork Feather River Project FERC No. 2105 Application of new license

Areas Sampled include: Lake Almanor Butt Lake Indian Creek Nelson Creek Spanish Creek Yellow Creek Jack Slough Butt Valley Reservoir Lower Feather River Feather River near Nicolaus Highway 99 bridge Oroville reservoir East Branch Downstream from Nelson Ck Upstream from Clio Caribou Branch SOURCE: Eis.sfei.org/cwqmc/step/

Feather River Watershed Trout Trout Steelhead Trout Brown Trout Rainbow Trout Lake Trout Chinook Salmon Coho Salmon Kokanee Hg Hg Hg Hg Hg Hg Hg Hg (ppm) # (ppm) # (ppm) # (ppm) # (ppm) # (ppm) # (ppm) # (ppm) Hatchery 0.09 6 0.12 5 Reservoir/ Lake 0.09 1 0.1 12 0.11 13 0.05 23 0.02 5 0.33 16 0.1 River/ Creek 0.08 2 0.07 55 Feather River Total 0.09 1 0.1 18 0.1 15 0.06 78 0.02 5 0.12 5 0.33 16 0.1 DATA SOURCES: See slide #7

Fish Mercury Data and 303(d) Waterbody 303(d) Listed Species # Hg (ppm) Lake Almanor Yes Smallmouth Bass 34 0.15 Antelope Lake Brown BullHead 10 0.03 Largemouth Bass 17 0.11 Butt Valley Reservoir Smallmounth Bass 22 0.15 Oroville Yes Carp 0.26 Smallmouth Bass 0.44 Feather River North Fork above Beldon Bridge Yes Trout 0.04 Middle Fork at Sloat Brown Trout 0.09 Rainbow Trout 0.08 Upstream of Yuba City Largemouth Bass 0.41 Sac Sucker 0.46 Upstream of Clio Brook Trout 0.05 Largemouth Bass 0.06 Rainbow Trout 0.04 Lower Feather Catfish 6 0.45 Largemouth Bass 10 0.38 Big Chico Creek Yes Butte Creek Yes DATA SOURCES: See slide #7

303(d)-listed SOURCE: http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/tmdl/impaired_waters_list/

Fish Advisory for Lower Feather River SOURCE: California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, http://oehha.ca.gov/fish/so_cal/index.html

Gold County Angler Survey A Pilot Study to Assess Mercury Exposure from Sport Fish Consumption in the Sierra Nevada Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/anglersurvey.pdf

Are people eating the fish? Survey Locations Deer Creek Upper Scotts Flat Lake Lower Scotts Flat Lake Lake Wildwood Bear River Rollins Lake Lake Combie Camp Far West Reservoir South Yuba River North Yuba River Lake Englebright Lower Yuba River (below Englebright) Folsom Lake Natoma Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/anglersurvey.pdf

Location of Surveys 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 218 Surveys Completed 69 were collected in 2009 82 were collected in 2010 53 were completed in 2011 14 were completed in 2012 Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/anglersurvey.pdf

Are you going to eat the fish you catch today? Don't Know 1% Are you going to feed the fish you catch to your family? Don't Know 1% No 44% Yes 55% 46% Household Consumption Information 52% No 39% Yes 60% 7% Children in household eaten sport fish in the last year Women b/w 18-49 eaten sport fish in the last year Pregnant or nursing women eaten sport fish in the last year Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/anglersurvey.pdf

Rainbow Trout Bass, any species Cat Fish Brown Trout Kokanne Salmon Crappie Sun Fish/Blue Gill Cray Fish Other Chinnok Salmon Sturgen Clams 77% Fish Consumption By Species 59% Do you EVER eat the fish that you or someone you know catches? No 19% 39% 35% 33% Yes 80% 25% 23% 23% 19% 12% 9% 8% Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/anglersurvey.pdf

µg Methylmercury/Day Gold County Angler Survey 200 Methylmercury Exposure from Sport Fish Consumption Women over 45 and Men 150 Sensitive Populations* OEHHA Safe Level for Sensitive Populations*-assume 70 kg (154lbs) 100 50 21 µg MeHg/Day 0 7µg MeHg/Day n= 215 In 130 surveys mercury exposure from fish = 0 μg MeHg/Day Survey Participant Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/anglersurvey.pdf

Angler Survey Summary and Conclusions 80% of anglers reported eating sport fish 50% feed the fish they catch to women/children 10% are consuming mercury at levels above the OEHHA safe eating guidelines Posted warnings were not present at most fishing locations Exposure potential is high with limited awareness Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/anglersurvey.pdf

This information applies to all lakes and reservoirs in CA without sitespecific advice (OEHHA, 2013) SOURCE: California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, http://oehha.ca.gov/fish/so_cal/index.html

Dust and the Gold Rush Rock crushed in mills Tons of waste rock spread over large areas Piles of rocks used for many things Construction Road surfaces Fill Dirt

SOURCE: California Department of Toxic Substances Control

SOURCE: California Department of Toxic Substances Control

Dust and Mounds Recreation creates dust Trails go through abandoned mines Is there a problem? Exposure scenarios Site specific risk assessments How big is this problem?

A Pilot Study to Assess Exposure Potential to Toxics from Mine Waste and Naturally Occurring Asbestos Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf /TrailsAssessmentREPORT.pdf

Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/trailsassessmentreport.pdf

How high is too high? Lab Detection Limits US EPA PRGs for Residential Cal EPA Industrial BLM Risk Management Criteria for Initial Screening Secondary Screening Element Symbol (ME-ICP41m) Soil CHHSLs Recreation Level Level (mg/kg) (mg/kg) (mg/kg) (mg/kg) (mg/kg) (mg/kg) Arsenic As 2 22 0.24 300 22 270 Chromium Cr 1 210 100,000 210 100,000 Lead Pb 2 400 320 1000 80 1000 Initial Screening Level-not good Secondary Screening Level- really NOT good SOURCES: Bureau of Land Management (BLM). 2004. Risk management Criteria for Metals at BLM Mining Sites. Technical note 390 rev. October 2004. California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA). (2009). Use of California Human Health Screening Levels (CHHSLs) in Evaluation of Contaminated Properties. California Environment Protection Agency. January 2005.

Lead.Asbestos. Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/trailsassessmentreport.pdf

Recommendation Recreational Trails Survey Quantify dust exposure for recreational activities in the higher risk areas identified. Dust monitoring activities by qualified professionals with adequate health and safety training and protective equipment. Activity based air sampling (ABS) Available at: http://www.sierrafund.org/pdf/trailsassessmentreport.pdf

What can we do? Public Meetings Health professionals involved Maternal Health Awareness Fish Consumption Advisories Dust Exposure Signs Asbestos-NOA Trails AML Trails PA/SI NOA

Long Term Solution-Clean it Up Mercury Removal from contaminated areas What was once a non-point source is no longer Abandoned Mine Remediation What was once remote is no longer Thank you!

Resources Mentioned Grandjean, Philippe. Cognitive performance of children prenatally exposed to safe levels of methylmercury. Environmental Res 77(section A): 165-72. Grandjean, Philippe. Methylmercury neurotoxicity in Amazonian children downstream from gold mining. Environment Health Perspect 107(7): 587-91. Hightower, Jane. Mercury Levels in High-End Fish Consumers of Fish. Environmental Medicine. Vol. 111. No.4 April 2003. Pages 604-608. Interagency Committee on Environmental Mercury 1971. Mercury in the California Environment. California State Department of Public Health\. PG&E 2006 Upper North Fork Feather River Project FERC No. 2105 Application of new license. Toxic Substances Monitoring Program 2002, State Water Resources Control Board SWRCB-DWQ. UC Davis 1997 Slotton, D.G., S.M. Ayers, J.E. Reuter, and C.R. Goldman. 1997. Gold mining impacts on food chain mercury in northwestern Sierra Nevada streams (1997 revision). In Sacramento River Mercury Control Planning Project. USGS 2000 Domagalski, J.L., P.D. Dileanis, D.L. Knifong, C.M. Munday, J.T. May, B.J. Dawson, J.L. Shelton, and C.N. Alpers. 2000. Water-Quality Assessment of the Sacramento River Basin, California: Water-Quality, Sediment and Tissue Chemistry, and Biological Data, 1995-1998: Organic Contaminant and Trace Element Surveys of Streambed Sediment and Tissue of Aquatic Organisms. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-391. Available at: http://water.wr.usgs.gov/sac_nawqa/waterindex.html. Accessed: March 2002.