Mercury spills in New Hampshire
have been reported to the Department of Environmental
Services (DES) and the Department of Health and Human
Services. The reportable quantity for mercury spills
in New Hampshire is "all amounts down to zero."
Table 6 shows the breakdown of incidents by year,
incident type, and the agency/facility to which the
incidents were reported. The majority of these spills
were related to broken thermometers, with the remaining
due to broken sphygmomanometers, broken barometers
in schools, broken fluorescent lamps, spilled bottles
of mercury in schools and two cases of antique mirrors
leaking mercury. The amount of mercury released from
these spills was not reported.
For the purposes of this report
and in an attempt to be consistent with data from
other states, NEWMOA decided to use only the total
number of spills responded to by the NH DES in the
regional presentation in Table 2. It would not be
appropriate to add the number of mercury spills reported
to the NH DES to those reported to the Department
of Health and Human Services because there is a high
chance of double reporting and counting. Some individuals,
businesses, institutions, or other entities might
report mercury spill incidents to more than one agency.
Mercury Spills Reported to New
Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and
NH Health and Human Services
| Source
of Information and Type of Incident |
# of Incidents,
1999 |
# of Incidents,
2000 |
| Bureau of Health Risk Assessment,
Department of Health & Human Services, Mercury
Spill Information Requests |
|
|
| Thermometers |
14 |
7a |
| Other |
3 |
1a |
| Total |
17 |
8a |
| Office of Emergency Management
& Special Investigation Section, NH DES |
|
|
| Mercury
Spill Responses |
17b |
6b |
a: Includes data from January 2000 through September
2000 only
b: There is an estimated 25 percent overlap of Risk
Assessment inquiries and Office of Emergency Management/Special
Investigation Section (OEM/SIS) responses where the
spill was called in to Risk Assessment and merited
an on-site investigation by SIS.
Source: New Hampshire Department of
Environmental Services
UW-Extension