A recent report has again focused the spotlight on New Hampshire's mercury pollution problem.
One tiny town in the south-central hills appears especially affected.
The Vermont Standard's Kevin Forrest visited Washington, New Hampshire and files this report.
Rose Foote:
?We been eatin? fish for?well...60 years (laughs)?60 years.?
96-year-old Rose Foote of Marlow stands on the shore of May Pond in Pillsbury State Park in Washington, NH.
She spends nearly half the year here living in a tent.
She sleeps on a cot and draws warmth from a coal stove.
Even at her advanced age, Rose is the picture of sprightly good health.
She paddles her kayak twice a day around the pond, weather permitting.
She has a ready laugh and a twinkle in her eye.
Rose
?It?s a beautiful pond.?
The unfolding autumn beauty along the pond?s shore belies the potentially poisonous brew lurking beneath the surface.
May Pond is one of 10 bodies of water cited by the New Hampshire Public Interest Research Group as having dangerously high levels of mercury.
Three of the 10 ponds are in Washington.
Research Group Associate Erica Staaf says those who eat fish caught from these ponds should be concerned.
Erica
The fish in these lakes and ponds have levels of mercury that are four times higher than what the EPA recommends is safe.
Environmentalists and government officials have known for years that coal-burning plants in the Midwest and northeast spew mercury into the air.
The mercury settles into bodies of water.
It eventually makes its way into the food chain where it can cause serious health problems including brain damage.
The latest report?s release just before a presidential election is not a coincidence.
Staaf says New Hampshire PIRG wants to lay the blame for the problem on the current administration.
(Staff) We?re trying to pressure the Bush Administration to put pressure the EPA so we?re racing against time in that sense.
The state has issued warnings to those who consume fish.
David Gordon is a health risk assessor with the state Bureau of Environment and Occupational Health.
(Gordon) If they fish in the local waters, or if they are going to consume fish caught in bodies of water in New Hampshire they should be aware of them. Especially sensitive population, women who can become pregnant or very young children.
May Pond is a sort of poster child for the mercury problem.
Some years back a largemouth bass and a snapping turtle from its waters registered the highest mercury concentration found to date.
Michael Morrison managed Pillsbury State Park back then.
The high school ecology teacher has studied the mercury pollution issue extensively.
He says contaminated fish are just the beginning of the problem.
(Morrison) You know, what?s this mean for guys further up the food chain. What?s it mean for blue herons who are concentrating fish and any of the heavy metals that could be in them including mercury and what?s it mean for guys like otters and minks and other fish-eaters?we don?t know.
Some speculate that some of May Pond?s high levels could be due to mercury used as a preservative for fallen logs after the 1938 hurricane.
Others point to the pond?s altitude.
And still others believe the pond's chemical makeup may also contribute.
But all agree that atmospheric pollution is the major culprit.
Still, identifying the problem is one thing.
Solving it is quite another.
Gordon, with the state department of Environment and Occupational health believes the problem must be attacked at different levels.
(Gordon) For the mercury problem to disappear there has to be much tighter pollution control equipment that?s really a national problem. The immediate solution is, I think, people should eat fish because it?s a healthy source of protein and nutrition but they probably need to choose fish that are low in mercury.
But what about Rose Foote?
She?s probably eaten thousands of pounds of supposedly contaminated fish over the years.
Former Park Manager Michael Morrison has a theory.
(Morrison). Most of what Rose has eaten in terms fish haven been horn pout. That?s her favorite. We have looked at horn pout and they really don?t seem to concentrate it the way that bass and perch and pickerel do. So maybe that?s something.
Many unanswered questions remain.
For example Rose Foote wonders how May Pond can have such a high concentration of mercury while connected ponds do not.
(Rose Foote) Now this one has mercury. What about Butterfield? Through the narrows it?s connected. They don?t mention Butterfield. (laughs) I don?t figure it out.
For NHPR news, this is Kevin Forrest in Washington, New Hampshire
Back announce:
We're sorry to announce that 96 year old Rose Foote died last Friday, about 12 days after being interviewed for this story.
She reportedly kayaked on her beloved May Pond the day before she passed on.
Friends and family are holding a Memorial Service for her this Saturday, at her campsite at Pillsbury State Park.
