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News release
Investments of $650 Million and a Reduction of 96% in Liquid Toxic Effluent Discharges Into the St. Lawrence
Montréal, September 19, 1996 – Industrial establishments targeted by the St. Lawrence Action Plan (SLAP) have invested nearly $650 million between 1988 and 1995 to implement cleanup measures and change industrial procedures. This was one of the elements detailed in a report made public yesterday by the co-presidents of the Protection component of St. Lawrence Vision 2000, Jean Cinq-Mars and Kathleen Carrière. St. Lawrence Vision 2000 is the continuation of the St. Lawrence Action Plan which ended in 1993.
The report describes an overall 96% reduction from 1988 of liquid toxic effluents discharged into the river by these industrial establishments. That goes beyond the objective they were given in 1988 to reduce those toxic effluent discharges by 90%. In addition, the changes carried out by the targeted establishments have meant that the load of suspended solids (SS) and the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) have been reduced by 92% and 96% respectively.
The 50 targeted industrial establishments are part of the following four large industrial sectors: inorganic chemistry (11 establishments), organic chemistry (11 establishments), metallurgy (13 establishments) and pulp and paper (15 establishments).
The report describes the issues linked to the evaluation of toxics in the effluents of the targeted establishments. It outlines the method used, the Chimiotox model, which yields an overview of the toxic effluents discharged into the river and outlines the techniques to monitor effluent quality.
The co-presidents also made public backgrounders on each of the 50 industrial establishments targeted by SLAP. Besides a description of the industrial plants, the backgrounders present the 1995 data on, among other things, the main raw materials and the main finished products, the resources and the uses to be protected and the environmental waste objectives. These backgrounders also describe the waste water treatment system, the prevention and cleanup measures in place and the degree of environmental compliance.
The co-presidents emphasized the great co-operation demonstrated by the 50 industrial establishments throughout the cleanup process. "These results make the implementation of the initiatives by the industrial establishments a reality. The initiatives were taken to restore the environment, thereby fostering sustainable development," Cinq-Mars said.
"A large environmental project such as St. Lawrence Vision 2000 can achieve positive results and meet its objectives only if it can count on the co-operation and support of the targeted companies. Following successful negotiations, the companies gave us this co-operation and support. This meant that a 96% reduction in liquid toxic effluent discharge could be reached," Carrière added.
St. Lawrence Vision 2000 is an agreement signed in 1994 between the governments of Canada and Quebec whose mission is to conserve and protect the St. Lawrence ecosystem with the goal of restoring the use of the river to citizens with a view to sustainable development. Under the Protection component of St. Lawrence Vision 2000, 56 industrial establishments were added, bringing the number of companies to 106.
Sources:
Yvan Bédard
Ministère de I'Environnement et de la Faune du Québec
(418) 644-3055
Hé1ène Perrault
Environment Canada
(514) 496-6976
For further Information, please call:
François Rocheleau
Ministère de I'Environnement et de la Faune du Québec
(514) 928-7607
Gaétan Duchesneau
Environment Canada
(514) 496-7319
Également offert en français
Date modified: 1996/09/19 – Important Notices
