The bigger question is what of the heavy metals etc are soluble in water.
Good one, back when Flint Mich water was in the headlines I was curious...just to name a few...arsenic, lead, mercury, chromium (this county is rich in chromium deposits and not a heavy metal but we are also blessed with abundant asbestos). So the deposits are here, they are natural...that's the way it is, but what I didn't know, the silt and algae collect and sequester these minerals, and when the reservoirs were operating the water going downriver below the dams was cleaner than the water entering. But now, by disturbing the clay silt we are reintroducing the 60 to 100 year collection of nasties back into the water in a very short time span. The numbers are very high, we'll see what effect that may have on salmon rearing starting in April and then the big runs return in September. Peoples drinking water? Time will tell.
