The Ohio EPA has held public hearings on requests from dozens of wastewater plants seeking to dump more mercury from their wastewater into Lake Erie than is currently allowable under federal law.
One such hearing is being held tonight in Euclid.
If Euclid's request is approved, its plant would join 70 other Ohio facilities that discharge into Lake Erie and are not meeting the standard of 1.3 parts per trillion.
Ohio EPA spokesman Mike Settles explains that it's often not financially possible to meet the federal mercury standard for Lake Erie:
SETTLES: The technology doesn't really exist at this time to remove those trace amounts of mercury at the treatment plant. It would be tens of millions of dollars potentially to get the equipment in to do such drastic reductions.
The Ohio EPA requires facilities that are requesting variances from the limit to come up with an alternate plan to address mercury discharges. One approach is to reduce mercury disposal at the source such as from dental offices, hospitals, schools and households. Settles says this type of plan isn't certain to succeed.
SETTLES: I think there's no guarantees. I think the success will rely on the effort that's put in by the communities to go after the sources and to educate those potential sources as to how they can reduce the amount of mercury going to the wastewater treatment plant.
Mercury is prevalent in many Lake Erie fish, and can act as a neurotoxin when ingested by humans, interfering with the brain and nervous system. Pregnant woman and children are most vulnerable to its effects.