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A mercury manometer, or vacuum gauge, is used to monitor the pressure within automated milking systems at dairies.
A mercury-containing vacuum gauge has either a U-shaped or J-shaped tube with silver liquid inside of it. The silver liquid is mercury and moves up and down in response to pressure changes in the milking system. The pressure is read from marks along the side of the tube. Non-mercury manometers have a dial or a digital read-out on them.
In 2000, dairy farmers and state and local agencies, with grant support from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, partnered to replace mercury manometers with mercury-free digital or dial gauges.
The state Department of Agriculture, the Washington State University cooperative extension, Yakima County's household and small-business waste-collection facility and the Department of Ecology joined forces to research effective alternatives for the dairy farmers. The group established a rebate system to help offset the cost of replacing mercury manometers with mercury-free gauges and arranged for the old mercury gauge to be removed.
The project goal was to remove 83 mercury gauges. After two years, available funds allowed 122 mercury gauges to be removed from dairy farms in 17 counties. Seventy-eight pounds of liquid mercury and 73 pounds of mercury-contaminated debris were successfully removed from dairies in Adams, Clark, Franklin, Grant, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Lewis, Pacific, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, Stevens, Whatcom, Whitman and Yakima counties.
It is unknown how many mercury manometers are still on Washington farms. Dairy farmers who find that they have a mercury vacuum gauge should call 1-800-RECYCLE for information on where to take these gauges for recycling.
Government agencies and dairies join forces to rid farms of mercury Ecology Press Release from August 1, 2002
State of Vermont Dairy Manometer Program
State of Wisconsin Dairy Manometer Program
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
