Since 1984, a fish consumption advisory has been in effect for the South River. The South River, long ago contaminated by mercury from a former DuPont plant, which stopped using mercury in the making of its fibers in 1950, has not seen a dip in mercury levels since the mid-1970s, when mercury was discovered in and around the water.

Nature, it was believed, would take its course and cause mercury levels to drop, but they haven’t. In other rivers across the United States where mercury contamination is an issue, the levels have almost always declined.

[Read](http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8IK0JQG3.html) (WVEC)

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s [South River Mercury Page](http://www.deq.state.va.us/fishtissue/mercury.html)

USGS’ [South River Mercury Page](http://va.water.usgs.gov/projects/south_river_hg.html)

Virginia Department of Health’s
[South River Advisories Page](http://www.vdh.state.va.us/HHControl/ShenandoahRiver.asp)