Fact Sheet No. 5: Eating Vegetables Grown on the South River Floodplain

South River Science Team conducted a two-year (2003–2004) garden study near Crimora comparing a floodplain garden (soil mercury up to 78 ppm) with a reference garden (<0.2 ppm). They analyzed 238 home-prepared vegetable samples from 17 species; over 90% were below detection and maximum detections in floodplain vegetables were under 0.2 ppm. A conservative exposure assessment found intake below the USEPA reference dose.