Pollutant Tracking and Why It Matters
Let’s talk PRTRs: where to find them and why they matter to you.
By Danielle Vallée, Project Lead, Environmental Quality, Commission for Environmental Cooperation
About six months ago, a woman from a small Quebec municipality contacted us to ask if we could help her find information about the activities of a local waste management facility. She specifically wanted to know about the materials it handles and if it generates emissions that could have negative impacts on the community’s air or water quality. We gladly provided her with data and information from our North American database, and also pointed her to the Environment and Climate Change Canada program where the data are sourced. But while we welcomed the opportunity to help, it reminded us that many North Americans are unaware of vital resources called pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs).
What is a PRTR?
Each year, Canadian, Mexican and U.S. facilities in major economic sectors such as manufacturing, energy production and resource extraction report data to their respective PRTRs: Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory, Mexico’s Registro de Emisiones y Transferencia de Contaminantes, and the U.S. Toxics Release Inventory. They report the amounts of each substance released to air, water and land, sent to disposal, or transferred to recycling or treatment. This brings us to a key element of PRTR data that make them so useful:
PRTR data offer pollutant-specific information, with each report filed by a facility providing details on the amount released or transferred of an individual substance.
It goes without saying that in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, concerns around the linkages between pollutant releases to air and public health have only become amplified.
In the case of the Quebec waste management facility mentioned above, the PRTR data showed that over the past couple of years it had generated air emissions of pollutants of concern, including lead compounds. The woman who approached us confirmed she planned to use the data as a basis to make inquiries about whether the facility was in compliance with permitting requirements, and if there was a possibility that its emissions might impact the community’s air quality.
PRTR data can support the efforts of citizens who want to explore potential issues associated with a facility in their community.
How is North America working together on PRTRs as a region?
PRTR data also have many more uses, in part due to an initiative led by the CEC for over two decades. The North American PRTR Initiative, a cooperative effort involving Canada, Mexico and the United States, compiles, integrates and provides access to comparable North American PRTR data and information.
With a large percentage of residents living near border areas in all three countries, North Americans on either side of an international border can access PRTR data from both countries to obtain comparable information about pollutant releases and their sources in that border area.
Pollution knows no boundaries. Having access to comparable data from facilities across the border can help address concerns about pollution in a shared ecosystem, such as the potential impacts of cumulative releases into lakes, rivers, or watersheds.
And while we’re on the subject of cross-border information, here’s another useful aspect of PRTR data:
Facilities report off-site transfers of pollutants to locations across the country, but also to facilities located in other countries.
These cross-border transfer data are brought together in the Taking Stock Online Cross-border Transfers tool, where you can search for information about both sending and receiving facilities across North America.
These are some of the ways PRTR data can be important for anyone looking for help to address concerns about potential pollution and environmental sustainability issues. Did you know that PRTR data are already used by many groups and communities? Here are some examples:
- Industry uses sector-wide PRTR data for bench-marking environmental performance, to identify efficient and sustainable production practices, and support corporate responsibility measures.
- Academic researchers in public health, biology, environmental resources, and engineering use PRTR data to understand the amounts and types of substances released in an area to gain a better understanding of the factors to consider in their studies.
- Governments use PRTR data to identify environmental or facility compliance issues, track the progress of existing policies and regulations, and promote pollution prevention and sustainability within industry.
We welcome you to visit the CEC’s newly updated Taking Stock Online website, which features a database of more than 30,000 reporting facilities across the region. Take part in our collective effort to build healthier communities!
The statements and opinions represented in CEC Medium articles are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the positions or views of the CEC or the governments of Canada, Mexico, or the United States.
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