U of U to sample mercury in Davis County

FARMINGTON — The University of Utah plans to park a mercury-sampling trailer in a Davis County-owned parking lot near the Great Salt Lake.

It's part of a project funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to determine how mercury enters the environment.

When mercury enters the lake it is transformed into a dangerous neurotoxin known as methylmercury, which bioaccumulates within the food chain, meaning that as predators eat contaminated prey, mercury accumulates in their bodies, as well.

In the Great Salt Lake, the bioaccumulation has led to consumption advisories for several species of waterfowl.

According to a letter from University of Utah professor of meteorology Kevin Perry, who is the project's principal investigator, the project aims to determine how mercury enters the Great Salt Lake and what is the source.

Investigators will monitor the concentrations of mercury in the air and in tributary systems and will try to determine potential emission sources.

For the next four years, the project will pay Davis County $125 a year as rent for the parking space near the entrance to Antelope Island State Park, just west of Syracuse.

— Joseph M. Dougherty