Ready Mix Concrete Sector: Fisheries Act Compliance Environmental Stewardship Branch Rodger Albright Feb 17,

Attention Please! $95,000 + change FineSavings

Why?  Federal Fisheries Act Section 36 (3)  (3) Subject to subsection (4), no person shall deposit or permit the deposit of a deleterious substance of any type in water frequented by fish or in any place under any conditions where the deleterious substance or any other deleterious substance that results from the deposit of the deleterious substance may enter any such water.

Case Study: Doing it Wrong!  British Columbia, 2001  Polluting a Creek  Depositing a deleterious substance in a place where it may enter fish bearing waters  Washing chutes at a construction site  Failed to comply with inspectors directions  Had pH levels >9.0  considered harmful to aquatic life  no observed fish kill  $95,000+ fine

Environment Canada: Fisheries Act National Inspection Plan  Includes Ready Mix Concrete Industry  Fall 2007, or Spring 2008  To be preceded by Compliance Promotion initiative :  Sets the stage for enforcement  Raise compliance with non-regulatory instruments  Recommended Guideline for Environmental Management Practices for Ready Mix Concrete Operations 2004  Allow you to evaluate site:  Ensure the good systems are working  Fix risky systems  Install appropriate new systems Objective is compliance –not fines!

Fisheries Act Inspection Plan  Inspect companies with history of compliance issues  Random selection of others  Compliance promotion /inspection initiative does not alter a normal enforcement response to a complaint

Fisheries Act  Pass:  Fail:  Warning  Inspectors direction  Prosecution  What are desirable effluent characteristics  pH >6 and <9  Non acutely lethal  (e.g. 96 hour LC 50 with rainbow trout)  Undiluted effluent: 50%+ die = fail  Suspended solids  often parallel provincial /municipal values  reference CCME guidelines (+10% over background)  Other factors can affect the acceptability of the effluent

Fisheries Act: Due Diligence  what a reasonable person would have done  reason a lot of background information is requested at time of inspection  consideration in follow-up and sentencing  Lets see!

Background Information: onsite  Written company environmental policy  Operations/accidents/offsite conditions  Obvious connections to receiving waters  Site plans  Volumes;  Product throughput  Process and storm water: recycling/released  Conditions around site: operations/storage  Precautions to prevent deposit  Best practices: conservation/operations/chemicals  Recycling/Treatment: settling basins  Sampling/reporting

Background Information: off-site  Cleaning chutes is main issue  Policy for off-site truck cleaning:  Designated safe location on job site  work with developer to assign such locations/equipment  To be rehabilitated later  Metal washout boxes/storage tanks  Rinse/collect washwater/return to site  No discharge zones! (not limited to those below)  Any area leading to watercourse  Ditches/brooks etc.  Storm sewers

Provincial Requirements  Often have permits  Water (surface, groundwater)  Air  Noise  Solid waste  Spills

Municipal By-Laws  Halifax (W 101)  pH >5.5 and < 9.5  Total suspended solids: <300 mg/l  Others: metals/oil and grease etc.  Compliance Promotion plan  Worked with them already  Very direct and focused “If it goes in the storm sewer – charge them”

Canadian Environmental Protection ACT (CEPA)  Air pollutants such as PM and sulphur dioxide have been declared toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999  Designated toxic substances  PM (particulate matter)  Dust and fugitive emissions from roads, storage piles, cement mixing  PM 10 (particulate matter of 10 microns or less)  Combustion emissions from on-site boilers, heaters, and vehicles (e.g. sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ))  PM 2.5 (particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less)  is linked to human health concerns such as cardio-respiratory disease, lung cancer, and premature death  also forms smog, which in addition to causing health issues, also reduces visibility May require National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) reporting

Size comparison of PM  Particulate matter is divided into fractions based on its size in microns ( µ m)  Total Suspended Particulate (TSP): less than 100 microns in diameter e.g. road dust, soil  PM 10 : less than 10 microns in diameter e.g. cement dust  PM 2.5 : less than 2.5 microns in diameter e.g. engine and vehicle combustion  Larger fraction is more noticeable and may be a nuisance to nearby neighbours  Finer fraction can travel farther and has greater potential health effects

Canadian Environmental Protection ACT (CEPA)  NPRI reporting; If you exceed  20,000 kg of PM  500 kg of PM 10*  300 kg of PM 2.5  Using emission factors: Mineral Products Industry (Table Plant Wide Emission Factors per yard of Truck Mix Concrete)  Lower value indicated for reporting* (estimates by author)  ~980 cy /day or 2000 tons /day uncontrolled  1940 cy /day or 4400 tons /day designated controlled

Next Steps: March, April, May 2007  Atlantic Provinces Ready Mix Concrete Association  Effective compliance promotion outreach to members and non- members  Provinces and Municipalities  Identify and coordinate efforts  Discuss results with Environment Canada Enforcement

Smog in Halifax Increased smog levels can impact the visibility of scenic vistas Above: Halifax Harbour looking from Citadel Hill on August 10, 2001 (left) and August 11, 2001 (right). Both pictures were taken on sunny/mostly cloudless days. Fine particulate (PM 2.5 ) readings on August 10 were 50µg/m 3 and on Aug. 11 were 3µg/m 3.