Marianne Faith G.

Martinico-Perez

Student No. 341202665

Mercury Levels in Honda Bay, Bgy. Sta. Lourdes, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines In the Philippines, mercury mining occurred in the province of Palawan from 1955 to 1976 producing 140 tons annually (Blantyre, 2011). Two tons of mine-waste calcines were produced during mining and approximately 1 M tons of tailings from the roasting plant was discarded along the Honda Bay coastline during 1960s and were used to construct the 400 meter jetty (Nieto, 2006). Although the mining operations had stopped for more than 30 years, allegations on the elevated concentration of mercury in the water bodies (rivers, groundwater, seawater), soil, seawater, fishes, vegetables, animals and humans remain to be alarming yet ignored issue for the local residents in the area. In 1996, a group of British Geological Survey in cooperation with the Philippine Government, conducted a single field sampling and assessment in an area of former cinnabar mining area, following the incident of widespread media reports of the human mercury poisoning in the area. The results of the assessment revealed that the mercury concentrations in six species of fish from Honda Bay were found to fall within the ranges typically encountered for analogous species worldwide. Median Hg values for all analyzed species was within the USFDA threshold of 0.5 ppm. Human Hg body burdens among 130 subjects indicated that all Palawan residents in the study are subjected to high Hg exposure as compared with a control population. Estimated mean blood Hg values ranged from 8.8-17.6 ng/ml for the five sub-groups, with a maximum individual value of 74.1 ng/ml. Such values are typical of populations consuming fish at a daily frequency. These results of the study, therefore do not substantiate the claims made in the Philippine media during the August and September 1995 regarding the occurrence of a major mercury poisoning episode in Palawan (William, et. al, 1996). After ten years, the Department of Health (DOH) conducted a health and environmental risk assessment of the communities near an abandoned mercury mine especially those whose diet includes consumption of marine or aquatic products in September 2006. The results showed elevated levels of Total Hg and Methyl Hg in fish from the exposed areas than those unexposed areas, the soil level were highest in Honda bay (566.81 mg/Kg) which is 25 times the level requiring remediation (23 mg/Kg). Air, soil and water levels of total mercury were also significantly higher compared with the control values (Nieto, 2006). Several recommendations were made on this issue based on the aforementioned studies conducted. But as a resident living nearby this area, and a government servant in this province, I could say that these recommendations remained as it were. Honda Bay area was not recommended to be a residential area (Nieto, 2006), but now serves as the fishing area at Puerto Princesa City and a jump off area for the tourism activities like island hopping, diving and snorkeling, thus, making the community bigger and commercially active. It seemed that everyone has forgotten to consider the past in planning for the present and future usage of the area. Environmental monitoring has been neglected; dissemination of the current status of mercury levels has not been done, thus trying to bury the issue and problem at hand. And so therefore I recommend that these studies should be reviewed, recommendations be considered and continuing environmental monitoring and health assessment (Nieto, 2006) be the guideline and basis for the policies and economic activities in the area.
Report on Environmental Pollution in Soil and Water, and the Remediation Technologies Prof. Arata Katayama

Marianne Faith G. Martinico-Perez

Student No. 341202665

References: 1. Blantyre, 2011. Toxic Legacy. Retrieved from http://no2mininginpalawan.com/2011/03/19/toxic-legacy/ 2. Nieto E. 2006. Environmental and Human Exposure Assessment Monitoring of Communities near an Abandoned Mercury Mine in the Philippines: A toxic Legacy. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum5/hm_nieto.pdf 3. TM Williams, JM Weeks, A Apostol and C Miranda 1996: Assessment of mercury toxicity hazard associated with former cinnabar mining and tailings disposal in Honda Bay, Palawan, Philippines. British Geological Survey, Overseas Geology Series Technical Report WC/96/31, Keyworth, Nottingham, UK. Retrieved from http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/international/dfidkar/WC96031R_col.pdf

Report on Environmental Pollution in Soil and Water, and the Remediation Technologies Prof. Arata Katayama