DISTRIBUTION AND BIOAVAILABILITY OF TOTAL MERCURY in THE PARK RIVER WATERSHED, GREATER HARTFORD, CT

The Park River Watershed, a sub-watershed of the Connecticut Watershed, has witnessed dramatic increases in urbanization in the past century. The Park River runs through Hartford, CT and suburban neighborhoods west of the city. Bedload sediment was collected from twenty six locations throughout the watershed and analyzed for mercury concentration using a Milestone DMA-80 Total Mercury Analyzer. This study aims to investigate whether mercury contamination in the Park River poses a hazard to aquatic environments through its bioavailability. To measure bioavailability, the acid volatile sulfide (AVS) in the sediment was determined. The ratios of concentrations of the simultaneously extracted metal (SEM), in this case mercury, and the AVS were used to establish the bioavailability of mercury at each site.