Annually, over 625 million kilograms of pollutants are being released into the air, water and land from facilities located in the Great Lakes basin.18 Many of these pollutants are considered toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA)
and have been linked to health effects such as cancer, respiratory illnesses, and reproductive, neurological and developmental impairments. The federal and provincial governments need to re-commit to providing increased sustainable funding for the planning
and implementation of strategies for the elimination of toxic substances in the Great Lakes. These efforts must include:
- Establish a toxic use reduction and elimination policy that includes a mandatory five-year plan for the elimination of toxic
substances. Action plans must include mandatory pollution prevention strategies (industry-wide and site-specific) for
facilities discharging substances into the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ecosystem. All chemicals that are toxic,
persistent, bioaccumulative, endocrine disrupting, carcinogenic or pose particular threats to children’s health and other
vulnerable populations should be covered by these strategies. This framework would provide: a mechanism for identifying
substances requiring further action (screening process); action plans for those specific substances; and target reduction
levels for years 1, 2 and 3. The action plans must include five-year timelines for elimination of substances, mandatory
pollution prevention plans, consideration and implementation of safe alternatives, extended producers’ responsibility
and enhanced right-to-know regimes.
- Establish timelines for the clean-up and delisting of Canadian Areas of Concern (AOCs) and Zones of Priority Intervention
(ZIPs). There are 15 remaining AOCs located on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes, including those shared with
the United States. Only two Canadian AOCs have been de-listed to date. Timelines must be set and funds provided for
cleaning up the remaining AOCs. Twenty-three ZIPs have been identified in the part of the St. Lawrence River located
within Quebec. Timelines must also be set for completing all actions in the ZIPs and appropriate funds must be allocated
to complete these tasks. These timelines must be legally enforceable.
- Implement management strategies, including drinking water source protection,
for agricultural pollution. Act on recommendation 12 of the Walkerton
Inquiry by introducing minimum regulatory requirements for all agricultural
activities – no matter what the size – that have an impact on water
sources. Such strategies must require measurable results to be verified in a
regular review.
- Phase out the use of antibiotics and hormones as animal growth promoters
and review the use of preventive antibiotics in animal feed and animal
manure management practices.
- Regulatory limits must be set on the concentration of radio-nuclides, and
radio-active spent-fuel stockpiles on the shores of the Great Lakes must be
removed.
- Establish a Great Lakes Institute for research, innovation and technical
assistance that supports pollution prevention and toxic use reduction strategies,
including elimination of toxic substances, application of safe substitution
and clean technology for toxic chemicals (modelled after the Massachusetts
Toxic Use Reduction Act).
- Establish a policy commitment by governments to conduct assessments
and develop management strategies that effectively take into account the
synergistic and cumulative impacts of pollutants found in the Great Lakes.
This approach must be applied to substances from both point sources and
non-point sources of pollution.
- Increase federal funding for scientific research on pharmaceuticals and
personal care products in relation to surveillance and monitoring, environmental
risks, ecological science, and human and wildlife health.
Ensure that pollution prevention strategies applied to toxic waste and
stockpiles of certain toxic substances do not include incinerating technologies,
which are a major source of toxic chemicals in and of themselves.
- Require effective, annual reporting to the public on the type of use and
emission levels of toxic chemicals and other pollutants from facilities in the
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ecosystem. Ensure these are reported
as total annual loadings with no minimum threshold for industrial facilities.
Address Climate Change
- Global climate change is an underlying issue that will affect the Great
Lakes now and in the future. Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation
will have an impact on lake levels, temperature, salinity, eutrophication,
microbial pollution and species habitat. Our energy choices in the
Great Lakes now will influence climate change impacts and ecosystem and
economic resilience in the future. Meaningful greenhouse gas reduction
strategies must be pursued by all levels of government, including industrial
emission targets that reduce the absolute volume of greenhouse gas emissions.
References
[19] PollutionWatch. (2006). Partners in Pollution: An Assessment of continuing Canada and United States contributions to Great Lakes Pollution. Available at www.pollutionwatch.org. |
