Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - November 2004
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Environmental News Items, November 2004
Globetrotting pollutants turn up on Toronto street
Researchers at the University of Toronto have detected
migratory pollutants from a forest fire in Québec and even
particles from a sandstorm in the Sahara in Toronto air, findings
that could someday give regulatory agencies an idea of
who is contributing to the pollutants found in urban air.
“It’s a bit of detective work,” says Greg Evans, a professor
in the Department of Chemical Engineering and
Applied Chemistry. “We happened to know when that
forest fire was happening in Québec and we realized that
this mixture of different particles that we found in downtown
Toronto is a signature for a forest fire.” With the
dust particles from the Sahara, the researchers recognized
sand-like particles and were ultimately able to
track their trajectory from the desert, across the Atlantic
Ocean to Mexico, then north through the United States to
Toronto.
The researchers used a device known as a laser ablation
mass spectrometer (LAMS), which pulls in air from
College Street and accelerates the pollutants to close to the
speed of a bullet. As a particle passes by two lasers, sensors
calculate its exact speed and tell the LAMS when to fire a
third, high-powered laser that vaporizes a portion of the
particle, sending fragments hurtling along a "flight tube".
Lighter molecules take less time to travel down the flight
tube, giving the researchers the particle's chemical signature.
Evans says that once they build up a library of particles,
this research could make it possible to identify pollutants
without any knowledge of their origin.
The findings appear in the October issue of the journal
Atmospheric Environment, and were funded by the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada,
Environment Canada, the Toxic Substance Research
Initiative, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the
Ontario Innovation Trust.
Contact: Greg Evans, Department
of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, E-mail: evansg@chem-eng.utoronto.ca.
Kitimat fined for fish
habitat destruction and
sewage spill
The District of Kitimat in British
Columbia has been fined a total of
$76,000, following two Fisheries Act
investigations, one involving the
destruction of fish habitat and another
involving a sewage spill.
One incident, investigated by
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO),
occurred in October 2002 when the
District destroyed approximately 350
metres of riparian (riverbank) and
streambed in Sumgas Creek, a tributary
of the Kitimat River. This
occurred during work intended to
improve drainage.
The other incident involved a discharge
of approximately 576,000 litres
of raw sewage to the Kitimat River and
Sumgas Creek in February 2001. The
Kitimat River is an extremely important
fish habitat, supporting all six species
of salmon as well as cutthroat, Dolly
Varden and rainbow trout and other
freshwater species. This was a large
spill into a highly productive river.
BC Ministry charged
with polluting important
trout stream
The British Columbia Ministry of
Transportation has been charged with
10 counts under subsection 36(3) of
the federal Fisheries Act for permitting
the deposit of a deleterious substance
into water frequented by fish. The
alleged offenses took place between
May 30, 2002 and November 19, 2003.
Environment Canada laid the
charges on May 27, 2004, after a
lengthy investigation. The charges
stem from the exposure of a high pyrite
rock formation near Pennask Summit
during the construction of Highway
97C, the Okanagan Connector in 1987
through 1990. Environment Canada
alleges that this exposure has resulted
in significant Acid Rock Drainage
(ARD) with metal leaching and discharge
into an unnamed tributary
(commonly referred to as Highway
Creek) to Pennask Creek.
Pennask Creek is one of British
Columbia’s most important trout-bearing
streams and provides brood stock
for all southern interior lakes. The
annual value in fish production for this
system is estimated at $30,000,000.
Contract awarded for
clean-up of former military
site in Newfoundland
Newfoundland’s Environment and
Conservation Minister Tom Osborne
recently announced the awarding of a
$788,583 contract to Matrix
Environmental of Dartmouth, Nova
Scotia, for phase I of the environmental
clean-up at the former military site
in St. Anthony.
The clean-up will involve the excavation
and shipment of PCB contaminated
soil and PCB contaminated
debris to licensed disposal facilities
outside of the province. The work is
expected to be completed in November
2004. The site will be evaluated at the
end of the contract to determine what
further work needs to be done.
ZENON honoured with
national award
Rafael Simon, Chief Operating Officer
of Oakville’s ZENON Environmental
Inc., was presented with a national
environmental award on October 28,
2004, by David Powell, President of
the Canadian Institute for Environmental
Law and Policy (CIELAP) in
Toronto. The award, which is given for
Advancing the Environmental Agenda,
aims to recognize the achievements of
individuals and organizations that have
contributed to changes in behaviour
toward environmental issues and sustainability.
“ZENON is an excellent example
of a company that has developed
important technologies to overcome
environmental problems,” said Anne
Mitchell, Executive Director, CIELAP.
“By producing clean, potable water,
the company has made a major contribution
in protecting the environment
and protecting human health.”
Final report released on oil
field injection water
The Government of Alberta has
received final recommendations
from a provincial stakeholder committee
that reviewed the use of nonsaline
(fresh) water for underground
injection.
The Advisory Committee on Water
Use Practice and Policy was established
to examine the use of water for
underground injection, including the
enhanced recovery of oil (oilfield
injection). This process was in response
to concerns raised during the public
consultations for the development of
Alberta's Water for Life strategy.
As part of a broader effort to conserve
water, the committee noted that a
concerted effort must be made to
reduce, or eliminate, the use of water
for underground injection on a case-by-case basis.
The committee's recommendations
include strengthening the regulatory
process for assessing applications that
use non-saline water for underground
injection, reviewing existing water
licences for these purposes, improving
provincial groundwater information
and investing in research for alternative
enhanced recovery technologies.
For further information on the
Advisory Committee on Water Use
Practice and Policy and to view the
final recommendation report, visit www.waterforlife.gov.ab.ca.
Primary disinfection
system selected for
Walkerton’s drinking water
Trojan Technologies has been selected
to supply ultraviolet (UV) drinking
water disinfection equipment for the
community of Walkerton, Ontario.
“With the addition of UV disinfection
technology, we can provide
Walkerton residents with an increased
level of confidence in the safety of
their drinking water,” said Mayor
Charlie Bagnato.
Two Trojan units will treat water at
a rate of just over 7,100 cubic metres a
day. The equipment is expected to be
installed and operational by this winter.
Trojan has also been selected to
provide systems for the largest UV
installations in the United States
(Seattle, Washington) and Europe
(Rotterdam, the Netherlands).
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