The links to the 2009 summaries are in the table below. Exceedance information is organized by the five ministry regional offices and by the types of programs.
2009 Environmental Compliance Summaries
| Central Region | Air Emissions | Communal Sewage Discharges | Industrial Sewage Discharges |
| Eastern Region | Air Emissions | Communal Sewage Discharges | Industrial Sewage Discharges |
| Northern Region | Air Emissions | Communal Sewage Discharges | Industrial Sewage Discharges |
| Southwestern Region | Air Emissions | Communal Sewage Discharges | Industrial Sewage Discharges |
| West Central Region | Air Emissions | Communal Sewage Discharges | Industrial Sewage Discharges |
| All Regions Region | Air Emissions | Communal Sewage Discharges | Industrial Sewage Discharges |
Trends
For each sector, the number of facilities with exceedances is indicated in brackets beside the sector’s name.
The eight facilities with the highest number of exceedances for 2009 are part of the Municipal Sewage, Inorganic Chemical, Miscellaneous Communal and Industrial and Petroleum sectors.
A Miscellaneous sector facility could include a private and/or commercial sewage works under the Communal Sewage Program (trailer parks/lodges) or a sewage works not included in one of the industrial sectors regulated under the Effluent Monitoring and Effluent Limits Regulations under the Industrial Sewage Program.
From 2005 to 2007, the total number of wastewater limit non-compliance incidents has trended upwards. However, the number of exceedances has been decreased from 2007 to 2009.
Improvements
To improve the ability to compare programs (Communal verses Industrial), the Miscellaneous sector was separated and incorporated into a program area as appropriate starting in 2007 (i.e. miscellaneous industrial into the industrial sewage program and miscellaneous commercial/private into the communal sewage program). This increased the exceedances within the Communal Sewage Program and decreased the exceedances within the Industrial Sewage Program.
Some facilities with wastewater exceedances may have exceeded the limit for more than one type of contaminant.
For each sector, the number of facilities with exceedances is indicated in brackets beside the sector’s name.
The six facilities with the highest number of exceedances for 2009 are part of the Pulp and Paper, Iron and Steel and Electric Power Generation sectors.
Improvements
To improve the ability to compare facility performance, opacity counts since 2004 indicate the number of days on which exceedance(s) occurred. Changes to regulatory opacity provisions, primarily the method of assessment, resulted in some additional facilities being included in the 2006 report and continuing to 2009.
Because one source at a facility can trigger multiple monitoring station exceedances at the same time, the ministry adopted a new approach for reporting on these situations in 2006 continuing to 2009. Exceedances at multiple locations, resulting from the same source at the same time would be reported once. This is more consistent with the manner in which modeled results are accounted for as well.
To further enhance air emission exceedance reporting, the ministry is posting air policy/guideline exceedances starting with the 2008 Environmental Compliance Report.
Air limit exceedances tend to involve a small number of facilities that may have numerous non-compliant discharges. Some facilities with measured and/or modeled exceedances may have exceeded the limit for more than one type of contaminant.
To improve the ability to compare facility performance, measured and modeled air exceedances were separated to identify the type of exceedance starting in 2008. Measured exceedances occur on any one given day, however modeled exceedances may represent multiple days.
2009 Orders and Convictions Related to the Posted Exceedances
Type of Discharger | Number of Facilities (December 2010) | Facilities Issued Orders (December 2010) | Facilities Investigated (December 2010) | Facilities Convicted (December 2010) | Fines (December 2010) |
Wastewater | 234 | 25 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
Air | 61 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
*Note: The information documented in the table is for the 2009 exceedances listed in the summaries.
Environmental Officers use a case-by-case approach, detailed in the ministry’s “Compliance Policy: Applying Abatement and Enforcement Tools” (Policy F-2), May 2007, to determine the appropriate response to any identified non-compliance. This approach is based on potential human health effects or environmental impairment, and other factors such as the compliance history and response of the violator.
Possible abatement/enforcement responses include education, voluntary abatement, amending authorizing documents, orders, tickets and undertaking investigations that could result in a prosecution. Orders include: Provincial Officer, Director and Environmental Penalties.
Interpretations of Trends and Summaries
Some facts to keep in mind when reading the trends and summaries:
Exceedance counts can have different meanings, e.g. a limit may be based on 30 minute or annual average, an air dispersion model exceedance is counted once.
An order issued by the ministry or a ministry investigation are likely in response to a number of exceedances.
