USGS: environment and human health. (Forum).

Although many people are aware of the occupational risks to mine workers (the industry has the highest fatal injury rate in the United States), the general public is less aware of indirect health effects posed to public health by mining. Only large-scale accidents alert the public to the fact that mining can pose serious risks to the health of people outside the industry. Recent examples of such accidents include a 1996 spill in the Philippines that released 1.5 million cubic meters of highly toxic water, killing large populations of coral and other marine life; a 1998 spill that threatened Spain's Donana National Park with 5 million cubic meters of toxic waste; and mine spills in 2000 in Romania and Hungary that released high levels of cyanide and other toxicants into the Danube and other rivers.

One of the agencies looking at these risks is the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the sole scientific agency within the Department of the Interior. Serving primarily as an independent fact-finding agency, the USGS conducts multidisciplinary studies, often on a national scale, to provide both the public and government decision makers with information on environmental issues. The USGS has created a Web page, located at http://www.usgs.gov/themes/ environment_human_health.html, that rounds up resources and information specifically dealing with the environment and human health, including many mining-related resources.

The site provides links to publications on mining-related health issues under the Publications heading. Agency research reports and program pages are available under the Projects and Programs heading. And information from meetings and conferences the agency is involved with, on issues ranging from health risks from drinking water to arsenic in the environment, is found under Meetings and Conferences.

The "Mercury Contamination from Historic Gold Mining in California" fact sheet under the Publications heading explains in a general fashion the gold mining processes used in California, how mercury was used in those processes until the 1960s, and how the mercury has contaminated the water and entered the food chain. Gold mining with mercury was mainly located in the northwestern areas of California, and it put more than 220 million pounds of mercury into the environment between 1850 and 1981.

Another fact page brings the effects of mining to the dinner table, detailing how walleye, a popular sport fish caught in Washington State's Lake Roosevelt, have been found to have higher concentrations of mercury than other sport fish. The page explains how the lake has become contaminated with mercury by smelters and mining activities discharging waste into the Columbia River, which feeds the lake, and its tributaries. It also advises consumers on the quantity of walleye it is safe to eat.

The Bear-Yuba Watersheds Interagency Abandoned Mine Lands Project link under the Reports and Programs heading takes the visitor to a site devoted to this interagency study, which is aimed at gathering information about mercury and methylmercury in the gold mining areas of California most heavily impacted by those substances. One of the study's goals is to determine if any of the sites on federal land in the area might be suitable for remediation. The site's home page features a map of the study area showing mining sites, bodies of water, and federal land holdings. Also provided are a study overview, photos, and an abstract of the 2001 Department of the Interior Conference on the Environment.

Also under the Reports and Programs heading is an overview and status report for all mercury studies being conducted by the USGS. Research under way includes studies on mining contributions to mercury load, materials flow, distinguishing between natural and anthropogenic sources, and atmospheric deposition patterns.