About us

News

Air

Land

Water

Publications

Location: Ministry Home > Air > Air Quality > Air Quality Report 2000

This is a HTML version of the original PDF document. The HTML version is being provided for reading purposes only and is not the official version of the document.

2000 Report Highlights

Overall, air quality in Ontario improved significantly during the past 30 years, despite significant increases in Ontario's population, gross domestic product and vehicular travel over the same period.
Levels of most major pollutants decreased significantly during the 30-year period. Averaged levels of sulphur dioxide were reduced by 83 per cent and carbon monoxide by 81 per cent. During the past 26 years, nitrogen oxides were reduced by 49 per cent and nitrogen dioxide by 23 per cent, and over the past 10 years, total reduced sulphur compounds have decreased 33 per cent.
As in previous years, ground-level ozone and inhalable particles, the major ingredients of smog, continued to exceed ministry criteria levels in 2000. A major portion of Ontario’s smog is a direct result of emissions from the U.S.
On May 1, 2000, through the Air Quality Ontario Initiative, Ontario’s enhanced Smog Alert and Air Quality Index program was implemented. This enhanced program provides the people of Ontario with improved reporting through comprehensive and timely air quality readings and forecasts.
Good to very good AQI readings were reported more than 95 per cent of the time in 2000.
Nine smog watches, and three smog advisories covering four days were called in 2000.
Measured volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in 2000 indicated that levels are well below existing provincial criteria.
In 2000, the air quality of a select number of Ontario's Great Lakes Basin cities (Windsor, London, Hamilton, Toronto and Thunder Bay) was generally better than the air quality of selective American cities (Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis-St Paul) based on a comparative analysis of ten years of criteria pollutant data.

2000 Report Highlights
Chapter 1

Overview

Chapter 2

Ozone in Ontario

Chapter 3

Particles in Ontario's Air

Chapter 4

Other Criteria Contaminants

Chapter 5

Air Quality Index and Smog Alert Program

Chapter 6

Selected Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Chapter 7

Great Lakes Basin Area: An Air Quality Perspective

Chapter 8

Summary

Glossary

Abbreviations

References

List Of Figures

Figure 1.1
Trend of Sulphur Dioxide Concentrations (1971-2000)

Figure 1.2
Change in Air Pollutant Concentrations (1971-2000)

Figure 1.3
Ontario’s Population, Vehicle-Kilometres Travelled and Gross Domestic Product (1971-2000)

Figure 1.4
Trend of Seasonal Ozone Means at Sites Across Ontario (1980-2000)

Figure 1.5
Transboundary Air Flow into Ontario

Figure 1.6
Expansion of Ontario's Ambient PM Monitoring Program (1991-2000)

Figure 2.1
Ontario VOC Emissions by Sector

Figure 2.2
Number of Ozone Exceedance Days at Sites Across Ontario (2000)

Figure 2.3
Trend of Ozone Exceedance Days and ‘Hot’ Days (1991-2000)

Figure 2.4
Trend of VOC Emission Estimates (1991-2000)

Figure 2.5
Trend of Ozone Concentrations (1991-2000)

Figure 3.1
Ontario PM10 Emissions by Sector

Figure 3.2
24-Hour PM10 Annual Geometric Means (2000)

Figure 3.3
Trend of 24-Hour PM10 (1991-2000)

Figure 3.4
Summary Statistics for 24-Hour PM10 as Measured by TEOM (2000)

Figure 3.5
Summary Statistics for 24-Hour PM2.5 as Measured by TEOM (2000)

Figure 3.6
Geographical Distribution of PM10/PM2.5 Exceedance Days Across Ontario (2000)

Figure 4.1
Ontario Sulphur Dioxide Emissions by Sector

Figure 4.2
Annual Sulphur Dioxide Means (2000)

Figure 4.3
Trend of Sulphur Dioxide Emission Estimates (1991-2000)

Figure 4.4
Trend of Sulphur Dioxide Concentrations (1991-2000)

Figure 4.5
Lambton Industry Meteorological Alert (LIMA) Summary (1981-2000)

Figure 4.6
Ontario Nitrogen Oxides Emissions by Sector

Figure 4.7
Annual Nitrogen Dioxide Means (2000)

Figure 4.8
Trend of Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations (1991-2000)

Figure 4.9
Trend of Nitrogen Oxides Emission Estimates (1991-2000)

Figure 4.10
Ontario Carbon Monoxide Emissions by Sector

Figure 4.11
Geographical Distribution of One-Hour Maximum Carbon Monoxide Concentrations Across Ontario (2000)

Figure 4.12
Trend of Carbon Monoxide One-Hour and Eight-Hour Maximum (1991-2000)

Figure 4.13
Trend of Vehicle-Kilometres Travelled (1991-2000)

Figure 4.14
Trend of Carbon Monoxide Emission Estimates (1991-2000)

Figure 4.15
Trend of TRS Concentrations (1991-2000)

Figure 5.1
Air Quality Index Summary (2000)

Figure 5.2
Geographical Distribution of the Number of Days AQI > 49 Across Ontario (2000)

Figure 5.3
Number of Days with at Least One-Hour of AQI > 49 at Selected Cities Across Ontario (1996-2000)

Figure 5.4
Summary of Smog Advisories Called (1993-2000)

Figure 6.1
Location of Ambient VOC Monitoring Sites (2000)

Figure 6.2
Trend of Benzene, Toluene and Ortho-xylene Concentrations (1993-2000)

Figure 6.3
Trend of Butane, Ethylene and Isopentane Concentrations (1993-2000)

Figure 7.1
Selected Sites in the Great Lakes Basin Area

Figure 7.2
Range of Maximum One-Hour Ozone Concentrations in the Great Lakes Basin Area (1991-2000)

Figure 7.3
Range of Composite Annual PM10 Means in the Great Lakes Basin Area (1991-2000)

Figure 7.4
Range of Composite Annual Nitrogen Dioxide Means in the Great Lakes Basin Area (1991-2000)

Figure 7.5
Range of Maximum One-Hour Carbon Monoxide Concentrations in the Great Lakes Basin Area (1991-2000)

Figure 7.6
Range of Composite Annual Sulphur Dioxide Means in the Great Lakes Basin Area (1991-2000)

List Of Tables

Table 1.1
Linkages Between Air Pollutants and Air Issues

Table 5.1
Air Quality Index Pollutants and Their Impact

Table 5.2
Air-Quality Index Summary (2000)

Table 7.1
Ranking of Cities in the Great Lakes Basin Area According to Criteria Pollutant Levels (1991-2000)

2000 Report Highlights

Table of Contents

List Of Figures

List Of Tables