UC Berkeley discharges an average of 900,000 gallons of wastewater per day to the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), a publicly owned utility that provides wastewater treatment on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay. In 2002, UC Berkeley and EBMUD were awarded a $36,400, three-year grant to remove unnecessary mercury sources from the campus.

Prior to 2002, EH&S responded to an average of 25 calls each year for the clean up of broken thermometers. The key objectives of this grant project were to significantly reduce the use of mercury-containing devices and chemicals on the UC Berkeley campus, and educate campus staff, faculty and students about the hazards of mercury.

About 240 different labs and shops from 31 departments participated in the program. About 1,200 pounds of mercury waste was collected, including 317 pounds of elemental mercury and 340 pounds of mercury thermometers (the equivalent to about 3,600 thermometers). The College of Chemistry benefited most by removing about 550 pounds of mercury containing items, including 2,200 mercury thermometers and 80 pounds of elemental mercury. Due to their commendable efforts to promote the program and remove mercury from their labs, the College of Chemistry received one-third of the grant funds to purchase non-mercury replacement devices.

Grant funds were used to promote the program and purchase almost 2,000 non-mercury laboratory thermometers and other non-mercury devices. EH&S paid for the disposal of mercury. The overall cost of the project, including UCB and EBMUD labor, came to $116,000.