Coal sludge ponds dot the landscape of West Virginia and other mining areas across the country. Although they might look peaceful enough, the water contained in those ponds contains a deadly poison -- mercury, one of the most lethal substances on earth. Because mercury is difficult and expensive to remove from water, government and industry have avoided the issue for the most part. Now a group of researchers at the West Virginia University Institute of Technology has developed a relatively inexpensive method for removing mercury from water. "It's a chemical process that makes it possible to collect and dispose of (mercury)," said Richard Schoening, associate professor and chairman of the chemistry department. Researchers at the university discovered a bacteria that is indigenous to West Virginia that is attracted to mercury 2+, a deadly compound of the element, he said. For the past two years, the research team has worked with that bacteria to develop a process to remove the compound from water.

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