Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Derivation Of Wildlife Values For Mercury, Steven P. Bradbury, John Nichols, Jeff Swartout

Steven P. Bradbury

A procedure has been developed to estimate surface water concentrations of toxicants (“wildlife values”) that will protect the viability of wildlife populations associated with aquatic resources. This procedure was designed primarily to protect piscivorous birds and mammals from compounds that bioaccumulate in fish and was used in the Great Lakes Water Quality Initiative (GLI) to calculate wildlife values (WV) for mercury, DDT/DDE, total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD). Published in 1995, and expressed as total mercury in unfiltered water, the final wildlife value (WVf) for mercury derived in the GLI was 1300 pg Hg/L. This value was selected as …