Environmental centre big polluter

Spiel · May 28, 2009

Environmental centre big polluter

May 26th, 2009

Ottawa is the second biggest offender when it comes to releasing pollutants into Ontario’s lakes and rivers, says a provincial environmental group.

The most recent numbers released by the Toronto-based organization Environmental Defence — which gets its data from Environment Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory — identify the Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre (ROPEC) as a major source for dumping toxic metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic into the Ottawa River.

Second only to the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant in Toronto, which dumped 13.6 million kilograms of pollutants into Lake Ontario in 2006, the City of Ottawa’s only sewage treatment plant in the east end dumped more than 5.2 million kilograms of pollutants.

Two other Toronto sewage treatment plants are also on the list, ranked third and fifth.

The group says the province’s sewage treatment plants aren’t being held accountable enough and that metals such as mercury and lead are especially concerning given their effects on reproduction and development. Environmental Defence says the Toxics Reduction Act introduced April 7 ignores Ontario’s biggest water polluters.

Aaron Freeman, a policy director for Environmental Defence, said the act should apply to all polluters — including sewage treatment plants because they are the largest reported releasers of mercury and lead into the province’s lakes, streams, and rivers.

Sewage treatment plants are a source of toxic chemicals, and one of the best candidates to further pollution prevention,” said Freeman. Applying the act to sewage treatment plants would reduce releases of the many toxic chemicals these plants spew into our waterways.”

Dixon Weir, the city’s director of environmental services, isn’t overly concerned about being No. 2 on the list because the city is meeting all monitoring and other criteria set by the provincial ministry of the environment.

He also says Ottawa’s drinking water is safe to consume and the city doesn’t need a second sewage treatment plant.

We do have capacity to handle community growth over the next few years,” said Weir, adding that about 14 million litres of river water passes by the capital every second, which helps dilute anything that ends up in the river.

To help keep drinking water safe for residents the city regularly tests for about 360 chemicals and other compounds before the water is allowed to flow through Ottawa taps.

Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Steve Desroches said the city doesn’t want to be on the Top 10 list and is working on a plan to stem the amount of pollution that flows into the river.