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Environmental Science & Engineering – January 2002

When your neighbours are swine

Some people living in the Chateauguay Valley are unhappy about the proposal
to build a pig farm where 600 piglets would be born every week. They are
worried about the smell from 1,200 sows on the proposed farm near Huntingdon, Québec,
and the future of a river that runs just 530 metres from where the farm would be
located. The dispute is the latest manifestation of the uneasy relationship
between pig farmers and their neighbours in Québec.

Waterways are polluted when pig manure is spread on fields, critics say, and
the odours coming from the farms are overwhelming. Last June, Québec
banned pig farms in some parts of the province unless the operators agreed to
fully treat the manure produced by the animals, reducing it to compost,
fertilizer and granules.

The Fédération des producteurs de porcs du Québec has a
plan to inform Québecers about changes that pig farmers are making to the
way they do business. Farmers feed their pigs food with fewer phosphates and
are researching ways to deal with surplus manure. Québec is the pork
capital of Canada, with 4,400 operations. Source: CWWA

Canadians are not taking advantage of a process that requires federal
government ministers to explain their policies, investigate environmental
problems, or examine their enforcement of environmental legislation. In her
recent report, Johanne Gélinas, the Commissioner of the Environment and
Sustainable Development, urges Canadians to consider using the environmental
petitions process that was established under the Auditor General Act.

Any individual, organization, corporation, or municipality in Canada can
submit an environmental petition. Unlike traditional petitions, an
environmental petition does not require numerous signatures. A simple letter is
enough. Twenty-five federal departments and agencies are subject to the
process.

Ministers are required to respond to environmental petitions within 120
days. The Commissioner coordinates the process, monitors the responses, and
reports on petitions in her annual report to the House of Commons. Although
this process is over five years old, only 37 petitions have been received to
date.

The chapter Connecting with Canadians: The Environmental Petitions
Process, is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada web
site: www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/environment.

Charges withdrawn against Ontario MOE

A charge against the Ministry of Environment related to the Deloro Mine
Site, was withdrawn August 31, 2001, in provincial offences court in Ottawa.
The charge was laid in November 1998 under the
Environmental Protection Act for allegedly allowing the discharge of
radiation from the abandoned Deloro Mine Site. Ken Jull, counsel for the
Ministry of Environment, advised the court that actions had been taken in the
public interest well before the charge was laid.

The Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health,
the Ministry of Labour and the local health unit, initiated a comprehensive
environmental health risk study in the village of Deloro in March 1998. The
study, the most comprehensive of its kind in Ontario, included over 175,000
radiation measurements throughout the village. The findings, released to
residents in July 1999, concluded that it is safe to live in the village.

In withdrawing the charges, Ian Scott, counsel for the Ministry of the
Attorney General, reminded the court that the MOE had previously been found not
guilty after a lengthy trial on charges related to the Deloro Mine Site because
it had exercised all due diligence. Mr. Scott told the court there was no
reasonable prospect of a conviction in the circumstances.

The ministry took over the 242 hectare contaminated site as remediator of
last resort in 1979 after the private owners abandoned the site. Since taking
over the site, the Ministry of Environment has invested more than $16 million in
the clean-up project. The ministry is in the final phase of clean-up and plans
to spend another $18 million to finish. The final work will control and
securely contain all types of contamination at the site, from arsenic to
radioactivity.

Ontario orders corrective action at water plants

The Ontario Ministry of Environment has ordered the owners and operators of
79 municipal waterworks to take corrective action to meet the requirements of
Ontario’s Drinking Water Protection Regulation. The orders follow inspections
of 218 waterworks between April 1 and August 31, 2001.

This round of annual inspections found that 107 treatment plants failed to
meet regulatory standards or requirements. The ministry orders corrective
action in instances where there is a potential threat to human health. The 28
facilities that did not receive an order had already taken action to ensure
their ability to meet the requirements of the Drinking Water Protection
Regulation.

The primary reasons for failed waterworks inspections include:

• insufficient bacteriological and chemical testing of drinking water – 81
  waterworks;


• failure to meet bacteriological or chemical drinking water standards – 40
  waterworks;


• failure to maintain required disinfectant levels in the distribution system
  – 23 waterworks;


• inadequate ongoing training or lack of proper certification – six
  waterworks.

Alberta’s air quality rates highly

Albertans continue to enjoy good air quality, according to the province’s
third quarter Air Quality Report. Air quality was given the highest possible
rating 93% of the time from July 1 to September 30. In fact, only one hour of
poor air quality was reported during that time, due to factors associated with
hot weather.

Some long-term trends measured by Alberta Environment indicate that in
Edmonton and Calgary:

• Carbon monoxide levels have decreased by more than 60% over the past two
  decades.


• Nitrogen dioxide levels have decreased by more than 30% over the same time
  period.


• Particulate levels have decreased from 40-50% since 1986.


• Benzene levels have decreased by 30-50% over the last decade.

While smog is considered a major air pollution concern in the Lower Fraser
Valley, the Windsor-Québec corridor and the southern Atlantic provinces,
it is only a factor in Alberta one or two days a year.

Safety-Kleen Ltd. fined $100,000 in Saskatchewan

Safety-Kleen Ltd., also known as Safety-Kleen Services (Canada) Ltd., and
Laidlaw Environmental Services Ltd. of Winnipeg, Manitoba, was fined $100,000 on
charges relating to transport and export of hazardous waste.

Safety-Kleen Ltd. was sentenced to a fine of $50,000 for failing to give
notice of the proposed export of hazardous waste under the Canadian
Environmental Protection Act (CEPA, 1999). They were also fined
$25,000 on each of two charges under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods
Regulations (TDGR) for handling and transporting flammable materials without
proper shipping documents, and handling and transporting flammable materials
without applicable safety marks.

Charges stemmed from the export of 54 drums of hazardous waste paint
by-products to a waste facility in North Dakota on October 15, 1998.

Government proposal on road salts released

Five million tonnes of road salts are used each winter in Canada.

A 60-day public comment period started December 1, 2001, with the
publication in the Canada Gazette, Part I of the recommendation that
road salts, which contain inorganic chloride salts with or without ferrocyanide
salts, be added to Schedule 1 under the Canadian Environmental Protection
Act (CEPA). The government will make a final decision on this legal step
following a complete review and consideration of the comments received.
Canadians are welcome to provide comments until January 29, 2002, to Environment
Canada.

The government recognizes the importance of road salts in protecting roadway
safety and is not proposing a ban on road salts or to put in place any measures
that would compromise or reduce road safety.

Consultations will be launched next year on better ways to manage road salts
so that harm to the environment is reduced. This follows the release of a
comprehensive five-year scientific assessment by Environment Canada that
determined that road salts in sufficient concentrations pose a risk to the
aquatic environment, plants and animals.

A five-year study concluded that because of high releases around storage and
snow disposal sites and through runoff and splash from roadways into soil,
streams and rivers, road salts are harmful to the environment. The assessment
was restricted to ecological effects as the expert panel judged that there was
no evidence of human health effects.

The assessment report is available on Environment Canada’s Green Lane web
site at: www.ec.gc.ca/CEPARegistry.

Manitoba government accepts drinking water recommendations

Manitoba’s Health Minister, Dave Chomiak, and Conservation Minister Oscar
Lathlin, accepted a number of recommendations of the Drinking Water Advisory
Committee on bacterial testing of water, November 9, 2001. The government will:

• accept 70% of the cost for testing private wells and 100% for repeat tests
  of wells with positive results;


• continue education and communication initiatives such as a drinking water
  information line and the distribution of well water fact sheets;


• conduct a legislative review of regulations governing semi-public water
  systems such as restaurants and other establishments that serve the public;


• set the goal of drafting key legislation and regulations for the spring
  sitting of the legislature; and


• act on the recommendations for a task force to examine, in detail, the
  resources required to carry out the rest of the recommendations including the
  establishment of a drinking water coordinating centre for Manitoba.

During the summer, despite the absence of any reported illnesses, Premier
Gary Doer had called for the testing of water systems being used by schools,
hospitals, personal care homes, and day cares.

US panel of water security experts underscore threat to
drinking water

A panel of top US water security experts cautioned public utility officers
November 13, 2001, on the potential physical, chemical and biological threats to
public drinking water supplies. They predicted new requirements for expanded
water testing and monitoring.

The Water Security Monitoring panel, convened by the Hach Company at
an AWWA Water Quality Technology Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, discussed
threats to, and the security of, public drinking water supplies.

Leading engineers, consultants, environmental program managers and a retired
Center for Disease Control executive, all underscored the importance of
practical solutions including intensive and frequent water monitoring, physical
security and emergency response plans in all water districts.

Terry Engelhardt, a drinking water specialist with the Hach Company in
Loveland, Colorado, said: "Water systems of every size across the country
need to be vigilant and prepared for deliberate attempts to contaminate water
systems."

Bill Borlase to serve on WEF Executive

At the Water Environment Federation Conference in Atlanta, the Board of
Directors elected William J. (Bill) Borlase to the WEF Executive Committee for
the 2001-2002 term. Bill is a member of the Western Canada Water Environment
Association and the Water Environment Association of Ontario.

He presently serves on the WEF Board of Directors, representing Western
Canada. As the only Canadian elected to the Executive Committee, Bill is
committed to representing all Canadian issues during his term of office. He
also serves on ES&E’s Technical Advisory Board.

Study could help prevent water-borne diseases

A Virginia Tech engineering graduate student has made discoveries that may
help prevent outbreaks of water-borne diseases in the future. Paolo Scardina, a
Ph.D. candidate in Virginia Tech’s Via Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering (CEE), began his research as an undergraduate on the problem of air
bubbles in drinking water. Working with Marc Edwards of the CEE faculty, he has
continued his research as a master’s and doctoral student, and has won a
competitive grant worth $150,000 from the American Water Works Association
Research Foundation (AWWARF).

"When you open a can of soda, bubbles form and rise to the surface,"
explained Edwards. "The same thing can happen in water from lakes and
rivers. When air bubbles are released in a ‘burp’ during the treatment process,
pathogens and other particles can escape removal. The last treatment barrier in
most drinking water treatment plants is filtration and a burp of bubbles can
punch holes in filters – tiny holes, but large enough to let particles and
pathogens escape into the water that goes out to customers."

Scardina identified the causes of bubble formation while he was working on
his master’s degree. "Before Paolo’s findings, we knew that bubbles could
cause problems," Edwards said, "but we didn’t know how they formed or
the range of the impacts." Scardina also learned that air bubbles can
interfere with the first drinking water treatment process – settling – where
solid particles from incoming surface water drop to the bottom of treatment
tanks. If bubbles are present at this stage, pathogens and other particles can
attach to them and float on through the treatment plant.

Bubbles can also cause a dilemma for treatment plant operators at the end of
the process. When bubbles form after water has gone through filtration, water
quality tests may wrongly identify the bubbles as dirt particles or pathogens,
even though the bubbles themselves are harmless. This decreases the validity of
and confidence in water quality tests.

These plants eat nails for breakfast

If heavy metals can make vegetables too toxic to eat, why not develop plants
that will sequester metals as a first stage of a mining process? This could not
only produce metals for industry, but also clean up contaminated soils.

Scientists at Purdue University have discovered a gene they believe helps
350 plants known as hyperaccumulators. Such plants can contain nickel, cadmium,
selenium or zinc at levels hundreds of times higher than other plants. David
Salt, a plant molecular physiologist and the leader of the study, says: "These
plants have this extraordinary capacity to accumulate metals and we’ve now seen
how they do it."

Scientists have enjoyed some success with phytoremediation experiments, but
most known hyperaccumulators are small. By genetically modifying larger plants
to become hyperaccumulators, they could speed the process, making way for
development in brownfields and urban sites left unusable by industrial tenants.

Japanese planning nuclear reactors for apartments

A tiny nuclear reactor designed to generate power in Japanese basements is
in progress. Called Rapid-L, the 200-kilowatt micro-reactor measures just six
metres high and two metres wide. Initially it was conceived as a plug-and-play
source of power for lunar colonies.

Proposed assessment of Afghan environment reconstruction

Environmental issues should form part of the package being considered by
governments for the rehabilitation of Afghanistan. In a statement issued
following the conclusion of UN-sponsored talks on Afghanistan which ended in
Bonn, Germany, Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) called for those involved to consider the need for
a thorough environmental assessment of the country.

Speaking at the UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, December 6, 2001, Toepfer
said: "Armed conflict, which has been waged in Afghanistan for at least 20
years, can lead to environmental degradation in areas such as freshwater,
sanitation, forests and soil quality."

The Security Council has endorsed the agreement on provisional arrangements
in Afghanistan pending the re-establishment of permanent government
institutions. In an agreement brokered by Lakhdar Brahimi, Secretary General
Kofi Annan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, delegates from four Afghan
factions established a 29 member cabinet-style Interim Authority.

Toepfer said it is vital that the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people
are first secured and that an interim government is in place. Then, he said,
UNEP stands ready to assist in the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase to
come.

New Brunswick tightens uranium guideline

The health advisory level for uranium concentrations in New Brunswick
drinking water has been decreased following recommendations from Health Canada.
Traces of uranium to a maximum of 100 micrograms per litre, were considered safe
in drinking water from domestic wells. As of the date of the announcement, the
acceptable level has been dropped to 20 micrograms per litre.

The health effects of uranium are from its heavy metal properties rather
than its radiological properties. There are about 25 sites around the province
where the level of uranium exceeds the new level of 20 micrograms per litre.
There are also several municipal or Crown operated water systems in New
Brunswick in which the new health advisory level is exceeded. Source: CWWA

Can heavy precipitation be linked to disease outbreak?

Heavy rainstorms, especially during hurricanes, can do much more than drown
people and damage property. In the first (US) nationwide study of its kind,
Johns Hopkins researchers announced that 68% of water-borne disease outbreaks
reported over a 47-year period were preceded by precipitation events in the top
20% of volume for the affected watershed.

When storms produce more flow than storm sewers can handle, sewage systems
often discharge untreated sewage directly into lakes, streams, and estuaries –
especially when storm and sanitary sewers are combined. Most water-borne
disease comes from -untreated sewage. In many outbreaks, however, the specific
disease-causing germs and their ultimate source may never be identified. –

The new research could paint a gloomier picture of global climate change,
which some researchers predict will increase the number of heavy-precipitation
events. Along with bacteria and viruses, antibiotic-resistant organisms are
spreading through watersheds, according to the US Society for Environmental
Journalists electronic publication TipSheet.

In related research, the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection has
found that increased rainfall consistently leads to significant increases in
potentially harmful organisms such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium.

New NCE to lead clean water research initiatives

The Canadian Water Network, a new Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE),
was launched in November in Waterloo, Ontario.

The Canadian Water Network includes 175 researchers from 38 universities, 29
companies, and 40 government agencies who will undertake research aimed at
ensuring Canada’s leadership role in the management and sustainable use of water
resources. In addition, the network will be studying the protection of human
and aquatic ecosystems and applying new water technologies for continued
economic growth.

The University of Waterloo will host the administrative centre of the new
NCE.

NCEs are partnerships among industry, universities, and government. They
are designed to develop the economy and improve quality of life for Canadians.
These nation-wide networks connect research with industrial know-how and
practical investment.

Industry Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the
Canadian Institutes for Health Research, and the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council jointly manage the NCE Program.

Contact: www.nce.gc.ca.

Cruise line waste standards raised

Members of the International Council of Cruise Lines have adopted mandatory
environmental standards for all of their cruise ships, based on principles that
comply with international and US environmental laws.

The agreement marks a turnaround from the environmental violations of the
past. One council member was handed a record $18 million criminal fine in July
1999, for dumping waste oil and hazardous chemicals into the sea.

To improve environmental performance, these cruise lines are now testing and
installing wastewater treatment systems that discharge effluent of high quality.
Effluents meeting these standards would not be subjected to strict discharge
limitations, an advantage to the cruise companies. Each ICCL member line will
integrate these industry standards into its internationally mandated Safety
Management System which ensures compliance through internal and third party
audits.

Civil engineers forge NAFTA-inspired alliance

An alliance has been formed to work towards realizing the full potential of
the engineering portion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The
North American Alliance for Civil Engineering (NAACE) was created in order to
enhance the resources available to civil engineers and related professionals in
the United States, Canada and Mexico.

It was signed by leaders of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the
Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, the College of Mexican Civil Engineers,
and the Mexican Republic College Federation of Civil Engineers. Together, these
organizations represent more than 153,000 members.

Contact: www.asce.org/about/intlagree.cfm.

Québec STPs discharging ‘Acutely Toxic’ effluent

The water flushed into lakes and rivers by 15 Québec sewage treatment
plants is often still ‘acutely toxic’ to fish and insects, says a
federal-provincial study. The lingering toxic effects occur because people and
industries insist on flushing toxins down the drain and spreading them on lawns
and golf courses.

Environment Canada and Québec’s Environment Ministry looked for
dozens of known toxic chemicals and found most of them passing through the
sewage treatment plants, which are designed to kill germs and remove solids, but
not to neutralize toxic chemicals. Pesticides, industrial wastes, arsenic and
metals all showed up in the water flowing into rivers, including the Ottawa, St.
Lawrence and Saguenay.

In all, more than 85 percent of the sewage samples from all sources
contained the following: ammonia, phosphorus, aluminum, arsenic, barium,
mercury, PCBs, chlorinated dioxins and furans, surfactants (cleaning chemicals),
polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other organic and inorganic wastes. As
well, nearly all the wastewater samples fertilized the river, causing the growth
of excess algae.

The report, Assessment of the Toxic Potential of Municipal Wastewater
Treatment Plant Effluents in Québec, is available at:
http://slv2000.qc.ec.gc.ca/index_a.htm.