Over 228 million kilograms of direct pollutant releases to
surface waters were reported by industrial facilities in North
America in 2006. In addition to direct releases to water, a minimum
of 133 million kilograms of pollutants were transferred to sewage
and/or wastewater treatment systems.

The 13th edition of the
Taking Stock report, released today by the Commission for
Environmental Cooperation (CEC), provides the most comprehensive
picture of industrial pollution across North America, documenting
reported releases and transfers of 5.7 billion kilograms of
pollutants from facilities reporting to pollutant release and
transfer register (PRTR) programs in Canada, Mexico and the United
States.

This year’s report features an analysis of the more than 228
million kilograms of pollutant releases reported to surface waters
across the three countries. Taking Stock reveals that just two of
the 256 pollutants released to surface waters made up 90 percent of
the total volume: nitrate compounds and ammonia.

These pollutants are associated with the increased presence of
nuisance and even toxic algal blooms that result in aquatic dead
zones, or areas depleted of oxygen, increasingly affecting water
bodies throughout the three countries.

In addition to direct releases to surface waters, over 133
million kilograms of a wide variety of pollutants were transferred
to sewage or wastewater treatment facilities. Depending on whether
and how they are treated, these pollutants can also be eventually
released to surface waters.

The information on releases to surface waters also reveals
significant gaps in the tracking of North American industrial
pollution as a result of national reporting exemptions for certain
sectors and pollutants, combined with incomplete reporting by some
facilities. For example, public wastewater treatment plants
accounted for 44 percent of the total reported releases, but the
data come almost exclusively from Canadian facilities.

Ninety percent of reported volumes released
to surface waters comprised just two pollutants-nitrate compounds
and ammonia-associated with nutrient loading and aquatic “dead
zones” affecting North American waters.

In the United States, the public wastewater treatment sector is
exempt from PRTR reporting and in Mexico, very few such facilities
reported in 2006. Moreover, nitrate compounds and ammonia, the
pollutants released in largest proportions by Canadian and US
facilities, are exempt from reporting in Mexico.

“Effective regional cooperation on environmental issues depends
on comparable and complete data,” said Evan Lloyd, executive
director of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

“The CEC is dedicated to supporting ongoing collaboration by our
three countries to improve this information. Taking Stock and the
CEC’s trinational data and analyses provide an important tool for
governments, industry and citizens to address pollution and ensure
healthy communities and ecosystems.”

Two case studies examine pollutant releases to the Columbia
River and the Rio Grande/Río Bravo bi-national watersheds and
highlight pollutants of special interest, including toxic metals
such as lead, chromium and mercury and their compounds.

For the first time, combining the CEC’s watershed map layer with
integrated North American PRTR data makes it possible to pin-point
sources of reported pollution impacting each of these shared river
systems. The report shows, for example, that the majority of
reported releases of two toxic metals, mercury and lead, to the
Columbia and Rio Grande/Río Bravo, are from sources in Canada and
Mexico, respectively.

Different reporting requirements reveal
gaps

Taking Stock’s overview of pollutant releases and transfers
shows that top reporting industrial sectors in North America
included metal mining and activities related to the oil and gas
extraction sector, fossil-fuel power plants, chemicals
manufacturing, and primary metals manufacturing. However, reporting
requirements for sectors and pollutants vary by country, revealing
important gaps in the tracking of industrial pollution at a North
American level. For example:

The oil and gas extraction sector is exempt from reporting under
the US Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), as is hydrogen sulfide (the
pollutant reported in largest proportion by this same sector in
Canada). Zero hydrogen sulfide emissions were reported for 2006 to
Mexico’s Registro de Emisiones y Transferencia de Contaminantes
(RETC) by the oil and gas extraction sector.

The report highlights sources of
pollutants, including heavy metals, found in two important
cross-border river systems-the Rio Grande/Río Bravo and the
Columbia River watersheds.

Some of the toxic pollutants reported in the greatest volumes in
Canada and the United States, such as carbon disulfide, zinc
compounds, methanol, and hydrochloric acid, are exempt from being
reported to the Mexican RETC. As a result, once these pollutants
are transferred across the border-for example, when zinc is
transferred from the United States to Mexico for disposal or
recycling-they cannot be tracked.

Progress is being made by the governments to close these
gaps-such as removing exemptions for sectors and adding substances
subject to PRTR reporting. For example, Canada’s National Pollutant
Release Inventory recently removed the exemption for reporting the
disposal of mining tailings and waste rock.

Considering the data reported in 2006 by US metal mines, this
step is potentially significant to better understand the mining
sector’s releases and handling of pollutants of particular
concern.

Metal mines in the states of Alaska, Nevada, Utah and Arizona,
for example, reported releases to land-often in waste piles or
uncovered areas-of millions of kilograms of heavy metals, including
lead and mercury compounds, both of which are persistent,
bioaccumulative and toxic pollutants.

Taking Stock Online includes a full-featured database search
tool, highlights and information about the data, and links to
previous reports and related information. Explore the data now at:
target=”_blank”>www.cec.org/takingstock.