Lake Powell’s mercury contamination worse in side canyons, study shows

Mercury has long plagued parts of southern Utah’s Lake Powell, cropping up in sport fish that have been the subject of consumption advisories since 2012. But the metal in its most toxic form is not evenly distributed around the 186-mile two-arm reservoir.Methylated mercury instead is concentrated in Lake Powell’s side canyons, where water tends to be more stagnant and contains less oxygen, according to a study released this week by the U.S. Geological Survey.”We focused in on t