Why You Need a Water Purifier to Remove Mercury

Keep the Mercury Out of Your Body with a Water Purifier

You may remember over the years how people have freaked out over mercury in salmon

and other fish—but did you know that there’s probably mercury in the water you drink every day? Mercury is an extremely harmful element that’s present in large amounts in Lake Michigan, which supplies drinking water to the Chicago area. Learn more about where this mercury comes from, how bad it is, and why you need a water purifier to get rid of it.

Where’s Mercury Come From?

The biggest source of mercury is coal-fired power plants. Every year, plants like these emit almost 50 tons of mercury into the air. Two thirds of the mercury circulating in the environment came from human activities, and because mercury doesn’t ever degrade, the man made sources of mercury keep contributing to an ever-growing amount present in the environment.

Other man made sources of mercury, such as chlorine manufacturing plants and hospitals with medical waste incinerators and hazardous waste combustors, have been regulated or entered agreements with the EPA, but coal-fired power plants remain largely unregulated.

Worse yet, five of these plants are located on Lake Michigan, which supplies most of the Chicago area with our drinking water. Mercury produced in these plants first enters water in settling ponds, before being transferred to the lake. The result: mercury in our drinking water.

How Unsafe Is It?

Mercury exposure has a range of different health hazards. Ingestion can cause kidney failure, as well as neurological disorders with symptoms including memory loss, tremors, insomnia, headaches, and muscular, cognitive, and motor dysfunction. Workers exposed to mercury in even microscopic amounts over several years report signs of central nervous system toxicity.

Fish who live in water with a lot of mercury in it collect that mercury, and it gets stored in their bodies. This is why the government has declared an advisory on many kinds of fish in Lake Michigan, telling us to limit consumption of some species of fish and avoid others entirely because their meat contains toxic levels of mercury.