A Citizen’s Guide to the Wastewater Data Published on the Open Government Portal
With the release of the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations reported data, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has taken a tremendous step towards public transparency concerning sewage pollution in Canada. The information-packed wastewater datasets allow communities to better understand when and where sewage pollution might impact local waters. This information is key to inspiring change like the restoration of waters impacted by sewage pollution, and infrastructure upgrades in cities with combined sewer systems and in cities with only primary wastewater treatment. To help communities in Canada use these important datasets Lake Ontario Waterkeeper has created this Citizen's Guide to Wastewater Data.
What does the data tell us?
From 2013 to 2018, over 890 million cubic metres of untreated sewage was released from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) into hundreds of different water bodies across Canada. For some context, this equates to untreated sewage flowing over Niagara Falls for 3.7 days, or 88.8 hours. This also means it could fill everyone's bathtub in Canada 148 times. So how do we have such precise numbers? And why is it important to have this information open to the public?
This photo illustrates the impacts of a Combined Sewer Overflow in the City of Toronto. In the photo, you can see items that are flushed down the toilet including wet wipes and condoms. Photo by Flavia Lopez.
Where do the numbers come from?
This information comes from recently published data on Canada’s Open Government Portal. In 2018, Swim Drink Fish submitted a formal request to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to release data in relation to sewage pollution in Canada on the Open Government Portal. The release of this data provides free, on-demand access to machine-readable data files for sewage pollution nationwide. On November 25th, 2019 ECCC released this data gathered under Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (WSER). This release sets an important precedent for publishing other environmental regulatory data for public consumption.
WSER came into effect in 2012 under the Fisheries Act to help manage wastewater releases by systems that collect an average daily influent volume of 100 cubic metres or more. These regulations relate specifically to subsection 36 in the Fisheries Act, a key pollution prevention provision that prohibits the deposit of deleterious substances like sewage and wastewater effluent into waters frequented by fish. The work done by ECCC to release this data provides a framework to publish other environmental regulatory data to the Open Government Portal.
Why are these publicly available datasets so important?
Open data are the building blocks of open knowledge. According to the Open Knowledge Foundation, open data is vital for information transparency and scientific advancement. Open data means everyone including scientists, policy-makers, non-profits, and the public has access to the same raw materials. The information and knowledge contained in the WSER datasets are key to tackling sewage pollution in Canada’s waterbodies. The WSER data contains information on when and where sewage is released, and whether wastewater treatment facilities are meeting regulations as they relate to the Fisheries Act.
Understanding the Information Contained in the WSER Data
Four different reports were released on the Open Government Portal, all with very important information enclosed:
This photo shows how Canadians use the water, for swimming, sailing and boating. It is important to know if waterbodies like the one above are impacted by wastewater pollution. This is Lake Ontario, off of Ontario Place West Island Beach. Photo by Matt Brown.
The Identification Report. This dataset contains detailed information on all the wastewater treatment facilities across Canada. The information ranges from the average volume of effluent deposited per day from wastewater systems, whether the effluent is deposited in water frequented by fish, and also a description of the use of water at the discharge point (i.e. recreation, fishing, boating…).
The Acute Lethality Report. This dataset reports on whether the effluent released from wastewater treatment facilities passed and failed the acutely lethal test for rainbow trout. The Acute Lethality test was developed specifically for determining the acute lethality of effluent from industrial and wastewater facilities. It is used across Canada by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to monitor and control industrial and wastewater effluent.
The Monitoring Report. This report contains information on water quality, including the results of effluent testing under the Fisheries Act. It tells us whether the effluent released by wastewater treatment facilities is below the accepted limit for suspended solids (SS) and carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD). Both SS and CBOD should not exceed 25 mg/L according to section 6(1) of the Fisheries Act.
And finally The Combined Sewer Overflow Report. This report contains detailed information about CSOs for all cities in Canada (excluding the province of Quebec) with combined sewer systems. The data contains the estimated volume of sewage released on a monthly basis at specified combined sewer outfall locations. The report contains the latitude and longitude for all combined sewer outfalls across Canada. This report provides the most comprehensive information so that local communities can understand when and where, and the amount of sewage released into water bodies across Canada.
According to Environment Canada, wastewater pollution is one of the largest sources of surface water pollution in the country. The release of these datasets is a key step to fixing Canada’s sewage problem. The knowledge from the dataset enables everyone to tackle sewage and wastewater problems at both a local and national level. To download all of the reports listed above visit: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/9e11e114-ef0d-4814-8d93-24af23716489
For more information on the wastewater data email CSO@swimdrinkfish.ca.
Resources:
1 Novak, Lesley, Keith Holtze, Canada, Environment Canada, Environmental Science and Technology Centre (Canada), and Method Development and Applications Section. 2008. Procedure for PH Stabilization during the Testing of Acute Lethality of Wastewater Effluent to Rainbow Trout. Ottawa: Environment Canada. https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=En49-7-1-50E&op=pdf&app=Library.
2 Canada, Environment and Climate Change. 2004. “Wastewater Pollution.” Education and awareness. Aem. January 27, 2004. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/wastewater/pollution.html.