Ohio EPA Grants Variance Request on Lakewood's Mercury Discharge

Last year, the city of for a variance on the amount of mercury it discharges into Lake Erie.

This month, the regulatory agency gave Lakewood — and other nearby cities — the leniency it asked for.

According to a report in Love Lakewood, the variances were necessary because “advancements in pollution control technology have not caught up with federal clean water legislative mandates.”

Those mandates came on the heels of strict environmental regulations that went into effect in late 2010, reported Love Lakewood.

The regulatory agency approved the city’s April 2011 request to modify its permit for the discharge of mercury from the city’s located at 1699 Metropark Drive.

“They had to give it to us,” said Joe Beno, the city’s director. “There was no way to meet the regulations that they have. They couldn’t not give it to us.”

Lakewood releases mercury into Lake Erie at the microscopic level of 11.53 parts per trillion. Most of that, Beno said, come from dentist offices in the city.

New standards require the city to keep mercury levels below 1.3 parts per trillion.

“The amount of mercury they’re asking us to detect is (the size equivalent to) a piece of paper somewhere in the state of Illinois. That’s the amount of mercury they want us to test and prevent,” Beno said. “There isn't even testing equipment to test down to that level.”