Milwaukee Mercury Source Sector Assessment

SUMMARY

The Mercury Reduction Project for the Greater Milwaukee Area is a joint effort of the Pollution Prevention Partnership, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. This Mercury Source Sector Assessment Report is the first result of the project. The assessment was developed to help set priorities for developing cooperative mercury education, technical assistance and collection programs.

Estimates of the amounts of mercury present, used and/or annually released to air, land and water within the MMSD service area are provided for 25 "source sectors." This 420 square mile area (including Milwaukee County and parts of Waukesha, Racine, Ozaukee and Washington Counties) is home to just over 1 million people.

The 25 mercury source sectors evaluated in this report include:

(1) batteries	(14) lime production
(2) coal combustion--industry	(15) motor vehicle combustion
(3) coal combustion--utilities	(16) municipal wastewater treatment
(4) crematories	(17) oil combustion--industry
(5) dental facilities	(18) oil combustion--residential
(6) educational institutions	(19) secondary metal smelting
(7) fluorescent lamps	(20) septage
(8) general industry	(21) switches--appliances
(9) hospitals and medical facilities	(22) switches--automotive
(10) households	(23) switches-lighting
(11) incinerators	(24) thermostats
(12) laboratories	(25) veterinary facilities
(13) landfills

The tables and figures summarize the relative amounts of mercury:
o annually released from purposeful uses;
o annually released due to trace impurities; and
o present or in use from the various source sectors in the Greater Milwaukee Area.

These estimates of the amounts of mercury from source sectors are rarely based on actual measurements from the Milwaukee area. More typically, they are based on extrapolating national or statewide estimates of the relative contributions from various mercury sources. For each sector the report utilizes the best information available and applies it to the Milwaukee situation. This Mercury Source Sector Assessment, along with selection criteria developed for the project, should provide a sound basis for developing an effective mercury reduction program.

Annual Mercury Release from Purposeful Uses
			Releases to Media
	Amount	Percent of	Air	Solid Waste	Wastewater
Sector	(lb/yr)	Total	(lb/yr)	(lb/yr)	(lb/yr)
Incinerators	326	35%	326	0	0
Fluorescent Lamps	126	13%	0	126	0
General Industry	102	11%	0	0	102
Dental Facilities	99	11%	0	40	59
Switches - Automotive	72	8%	7	51	14
Thermostats	70	8%	0	70	0
Batteries	53	6%	0	53	0
Households	40	4%	0	0	40
Switches - Lighting	16	2%	0	16	0
Hospitals and Medical Facilities	7	1%	0	0	7
Switches - Appliances	4	<1%	0	3	1
Crematories	3	<1%	3	0	0
Landfills	1	<1%	0	0	1
Veterinary Facilities	1	<1%	0	1	0
Septage	0	0%	0	0	0
Total for Purposeful Uses (lb/yr)	920		336	360	224
Total for Purposeful Uses (percent)		100%	37%	39%	24%

Table 2 Annual Mercury Releases Due to Trace Impurities
			Releases to Media
	Amount	Percent of	Air	Solid Waste	Wastewater
Sector	(lb/yr)	Total	(lb/yr)	(lb/yr)	(lb/yr)
Coal Combustion - Utilities	345	65%	276	69	0
Secondary Metal Smelting	69	13%	69	0	0
Motor Vehicle Combustion	48	9%	48	0	0
Oil Combustion - Industry	35	7%	35	0	0
Oil Combustion - Residential	30	6%	30	0	0
Coal Combustion - Industry	0	0%	0	0	0
Lime Production	0	0%	0	0	0
Total for Trace Impurities (pounds)	527		458	69	0
Total for Trace Impurities (percent)		100%	87%	13%	0%

Presence/Use of Mercury
Sector	Amount (pounds)	Percent of Total
Thermostats	2095	28%
Hospitals and Medical Facilities	1560	21%
Dental Facilities	1167	16%
Switches - Lighting	953	13%
Fluorescent Lamps	534	7%
Switches - Automotive	470	6%
Educational Institutions	417	6%
Switches - Appliances	163	2%
Batteries	53	1%
Laboratories	3	<1%
Veterinary Facilities	2	<1%
Total for Presence/Use	7417	100%

This Page created March 11, 1998
Revised: May 07, 2002
Maintained by Pranas Pranckevicius, USEPA - GLNPO
URL: http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/bns/milwaukeehg/summary.html