Brita can't help you here...

A group of Tufts environmentalists have are trying to increase awareness about water pollution.

According to Kate Drexler, the coordinator of the Tufts Division of Massachusetts Water Watch, Massachusetts has the second worst water quality in the country. Drexler warned that mercury, present in every Massachusetts water body, poses the greatest threat to water quality in the state.

Mercury invades the tissue of aquatic plants and fish, and is persistent in the environment. As it moves through the food chain, the substance "biomagnifies," meaning that people consuming fish are exposed the highest concentrations of mercury.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), exposure to high levels of mercury can result in brain, lung, and kidney damage and severe mercury poisoning can be fatal. Mercury is especially harmful to the nervous system of a fetus or a young child.

Hazardous mercury levels are responsible for nearly 80 percent of all current US fish-consumption advisories. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) has issued 111 fish consumption advisories, specific to water bodies throughout the state.

The MDPH cautions consumers against eating tomalley (the soft green substance in the tail and body of a lobster) from any source. The MDPH also advises pregnant women, nursing mothers, women who may become pregnant, and children under the age of 12 not to eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tuna steak and tilefish.

The state's freshwater fish advisory does not apply to farm-raised fish sold commercially or to fish stocked in freshwater bodies by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

To reduce the risk of mercury poisoning, the MDPH suggests removing skin and fatty material before cooking fish, broiling, avoiding frying, and cooking shellfish thoroughly. Officials also recommend that those susceptible to mercury poisoning consume no more than 12 ounces -- about two meals worth -- of fish per week.

According to the EPA, the safest fish to eat because of their low mercury content are cod, pollock, haddock, and flounder.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, mercury emissions in the state have been reduced by 60 percent in the past five years, but industrial waste, sewage overflow, and runoff keep the pollution level relatively high.

"A lot of it has to do with the fact that the East Coast is very old and technology hasn't been updated to sustain the huge population or to protect the public health," Drexler said.

In September, Governor Mitt Romney responded to public concern and announced proposed regulations that would require the oldest and dirtiest power plants in the state to significantly reduce mercury emissions.

Romney estimates that the legislation would result a 130-pound reduction in annual mercury emissions. According to the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), American electric companies release approximately 43 tons of mercury every year.

But power industry advocates and research groups such as EEI dispute the effectiveness of such regulations. They argue that mercury pollution is a global problem because it is carried around by wind, and forcing power plants to implement costly abatement equipment would not necessarily improve water quality.

The proposed changes would be adopted in two phases. By Oct. 1, 2006, facilities would be required to capture 85 percent of the mercury contained in combusted coal and prevent it from being released into the environment. By 2012, facilities would be required to capture 95 percent of the mercury.

Regulations would apply to the Brayton Point Station in Somerset, the Salem Harbor Station, the Mount Tom Station in Holyoke, the Somerset Station, the Mystic Station in Everett, and Canal Electric in Sandwich.

Facilities for which it would be especially expensive to reduce emissions would be allowed to pursue alternative methods of reducing mercury emissions until they are able to clean up their own plant. For instance, the legislation would allow facilities to help reduce emissions at other facilities or arrange for the collection and recycling of mercury from high school chemistry labs or dentists' offices. Collection arrangements would adjust for the fact that mercury in labs and at dental offices would only potentially become air emissions if, for instance, the buildings caught fire.