Public Health 

Assessments & 

Health Consultations

Page last reviewed: October 15, 2009

Page last updated: October 15, 2009

Content source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 4770 Buford Hwy NE, 

Atlanta, GA 30341 

Contact CDC: 800-232-4636 / TTY: 888-232-6348

HEALTH CONSULTATION

BRANDY BRANCH RESERVOIR 

MARSHALL, HARRISON COUNTY, TEXAS

September 30, 1998

Prepared by

Texas Department of Health 

Under Cooperative Agreement with the 

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

BACKGROUND AND STATEMENT OF ISSUES

DISCUSSION

ATSDR'S CHILD HEALTH INITIATIVE

CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

REFERENCES 

PREPARERS OF THE REPORT

CERTIFICATION 

FIGURES AND TABLES

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Public Health 

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Health Consultations

Page last reviewed: October 15, 2009

HEALTH CONSULTATION 

BRANDY BRANCH RESERVOIR 

MARSHALL, HARRISON COUNTY, TEXAS

BACKGROUND AND STATEMENT OF ISSUES

The Texas Department of Health Seafood Safety Division (SSD) requested that the Health 

Risk Assessment and Toxicology Program reevaluate the current advisory limiting 

consumption of fish taken from Brandy Branch Reservoir, a 1,200 acre cooling reservoir for 

Pirkey Power Plant and operated by Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO). 

Brandy Branch Reservoir is located 10 miles southwest of Marshall in Harrison County, 

Texas. During the late 1970's, several power plant cooling reservoirs in Texas received 

discharges from ash ponds containing elevated selenium levels, resulting in increased 

selenium concentrations in fish. An investigation of a series of fish kills in waterbodies near 

power plants in the early 1980's implicated elevated levels of selenium in fish tissue and 

water. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) reported elevated levels of 

selenium in Brandy Branch fish during this time. From 1986-1989, TPWD reported that 

average selenium concentrations in Brandy Branch fish increased from 0.81 to 2.29 ppm. 

The reasons for this increase are unknown but may include sampling variations, seasonal 

variations in selenium concentrations, or continued input of selenium into the reservoir 

during this period. 

Since the fish kills, the Texas Department of Health (TDH), TPWD, and SWEPCO have 

worked cooperatively to monitor selenium levels in fish tissue. In 1992, TDH issued a fish 

consumption advisory for the reservoir after it was determined that the levels of selenium in 

fish could pose a potential health risk. The advisory recommended that adults consume no 

more than one eight-ounce meal each week and children seven years of age and older 

consume no more than one four-ounce meal each week. Children six and under, pregnant 

women, or women who may soon become pregnant were advised not to consume the fish. 

Additionally, persons consuming fish from the reservoir were advised not to consume 

mineral dietary supplements with selenium exceeding 50 micrograms per day.

In 1996 and 1997, TDH collected 17 fish (13 largemouth bass, 1 white bass, and 3 white 

crappie) for a re-evaluation of the present fish consumption advisory. The concentration of 

selenium in the fish ranged from 0.46 to 1.79 ppm with an overall average concentration of 

0.87 ppm (Table 1). 

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Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 4770 Buford Hwy NE, 

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Contact CDC: 800-232-4636 / TTY: 888-232-6348

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Public Health 

Assessments & 

Health Consultations

HEALTH CONSULTATION

BRANDY BRANCH RESERVOIR 

MARSHALL, HARRISON COUNTY, TEXAS

DISCUSSION 

Selenium

Selenium is a naturally occurring substance that is widely, but unevenly distributed in rocks 

and soils of the earth's crust. It is rarely found in pure form in the environment. When rocks 

decompose into soils, selenium often combines with sodium and oxygen to form sodium 

selenate, or with water to form sodium selenite, both of which are water soluble. Plants easily 

take up inorganic selenium compounds from water and change them to organic selenium 

compounds such as selenomethionine. The major man-made source of selenium in the 

environment is coal burning, especially the fly ash that results from burning coal. Persons 

living near industrial sites may be exposed through ingesting the soil or water, breathing the 

dust, eating plants that may have taken up selenium from soil, or ingesting fish that may 

have taken up selenium from high concentrations in water [1]. The estimated 

bioaccumulation factor for selenium in fish ranges from 485 to 1,746, depending on the 

species [2]. In general the more soluble and mobile forms of selenium (selenite and selenate) 

dominate under aerobic (high oxygen concentrations) and alkaline (high pH) conditions [1]. 

Humans and animals are both capable of absorbing and utilizing both organic or inorganic 

forms of selenium from food or water sources. Most of the selenium that enters the body is 

excreted in the urine within 24 hours. Selenium can build up in the body if exposure is high 

and occurs over a long period of time. Body burdens of selenium primarily occur in the liver, 

kidneys, hair, and nails. Selenium is an essential dietary element for both human and 

animals in either the inorganic or organic form. Selenium has antioxidant effects which help 

prevent damage to tissues caused by oxygen. A selenium deficient diet can result in Keshan 

disease, the signs and symptoms of which may include muscle pain, cardiomyopathy, 

enlargement of the heart, increased red blood cell fragility, and pancreatic degeneration. 

The human recommended daily allowance (RDA) of selenium for maintenance of good 

health is 55 micrograms per day (ug/day) for women and 70 micrograms per day for men. 

Estimates of the average intake of selenium from food for the U.S. population range from 71 

to 152 micrograms of selenium per person per day [1]. Welsh et al. reported that about three 

percent of Maryland residents consumed diets which contained over 200 Âμg of selenium 

per day [3]. The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council has estimated 

the safe and adequate daily dietary intake of selenium in adults to be 50 to 200 Âμg [4]. 

However, when eaten in amounts that are not much higher than required for good nutrition, 

selenium becomes harmful to humans and animals [1] (Figure 2). Signs and symptoms of 

sub-acute and chronic toxicity in humans include brittleness and loss of hair and nails; 

blisters, eruptions and skin mottling; pitting and excessive decay of the teeth; a garlic or sour

-milk breath odor; periodic episodes of nausea and vomiting; and increasing fatigue. 

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Public Health 

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Health Consultations

HEALTH CONSULTATION 

BRANDY BRANCH RESERVOIR 

MARSHALL, HARRISON COUNTY, TEXAS

CONCLUSIONS

1. Based on the 1996 and 1997 sampling data, levels of selenium in Brandy Branch Reservoir 

fish are lower than they were during the late 1980s. 

2. Depending on body weight (10-30 kg), children could consume approximately one to five 

(four ounce) meals of Brandy Branch fish per week before exceeding the MRL. Adults (70 kg) 

consuming five to six (eight ounce) meals of Brandy Branch fish per week would not be 

expected to exceed the MRL. Approximately three times these amounts would be required to 

exceed the lowest levels reasonably expected to result in signs and symptoms of toxicity, 

therefore, ingestion of fish at these amounts pose no apparent public health hazard. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

The fish consumption advisory issued for Brandy Branch Reservoir in 1992 should be 

re- evaluated based on the current recommended limitations on long-term fish 

consumption.

1.

REFERENCES

ATSDR, 1996. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Toxicological Profile 

for Selenium. Atlanta: ATSDR, Aug. 1996. 

1.

Lemly, 1985. Toxicology of selenium in a freshwater reservoir: Implications for 

environmental hazard evaluation and safety. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Safety 10:314-338. 

2.

Welsh, et al., 1981. Selenium in self-selected diets of Maryland residents. J. Am. Diet 

Assoc. 79-277-85. 

3.

FNB, NRC, 1980. Food and Nutrition Board, National Research Council: 

Recommended dietary allowances, 9th ed. Washington, D.C: National Academy of 

Sciences. 

4.

Longnecker, et.al., 1991. Selenium in diet, blood, and toenails in relation to human 

health in a seleniferous area. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 53:1288-94. 

5.

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Page last updated: October 15, 2009

Content source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 

Yang, et.al., 1983. Endemic selenium intoxication of humans in China. Am. J. Clin. 

Nutr. 37:872-81.

6.

PREPARERS OF THE REPORT

Lisa R. Williams, M.S. Toxicologist 

Health Risk Assessment and Toxicology Program 

John F. Villanacci, Ph.D. 

Director 

Health Risk Assessment and Toxicology Program 

ATSDR REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE

George Pettigrew, P.E. 

Senior Regional Representative 

ATSDR - Region 6 

ATSDR TECHNICAL PROJECT OFFICER

William Greim 

Environmental Health Scientist 

Division of Health Assessment and Consultation 

Superfund Site Assessment Branch 

 

CERTIFICATION 

The Brandy Branch Reservoir Health Consultation was prepared by the Texas Department of

Health under a cooperative agreement with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease 

Registry (ATSDR). It is in accordance with approved methodology and procedures existing at

the time the Health Consultation was initiated. 

Technical Project Officer, SPS, SSAB, DHAC 

The Division of Health Assessment and Consultation, ATSDR, has reviewed this Health 

Consultation and concurs with its findings. 

Chief, SPS, SSAB, DHAC, ATSDR 

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Atlanta, GA 30341 

Contact CDC: 800-232-4636 / TTY: 888-232-6348

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