Water Quality Assessment of the Palumeu River

During this assessment we sampled water quality at 14 sites on the Palumeu River, Tapaje Creek and Makrutu Creek.In general the result show typical water quality conditions for undisturbed aquatic ecosystems in Suriname's interior, except for mercury.Although analysis of rain water samples taken on the Grensgebergte did not have any mercury, levels above international norms were occasionally found in sediment and fish tissue samples.This indicates that there might be an external mercury source.Further monitoring is needed to confirm this.This aspect is very important and needs immediately action because these headwaters provide drinking water and protein source for many local communities downstream.