Mercury in our Environment

Even though mercury exists naturally in the Earth's crust and is sometimes put into the air when volcanoes erupt, the largest cause of mercury pollution is the burning of fossil fuels like coal. When coal is burned to fuel factories and power plants, mercury gets released into the air as air pollution. When mercury pollutes the land or air, rain eventually washes it into streams, lakes, rivers and oceans, where it eventually enters the food chain.