Impacts of Air Pollutants and Smog

The smoggiest region in Canada is, according to Environment Canada, in rural southwestern Ontario, along the north shore of Lake Erie. Here, ground-level ozone regularly exceeds the guidelines of more than 30 days per year. Reasons for this pollution include the high population density, consequent large emissions of precursor pollutants and suitable climate.

Air pollutants and smog are, by definition injurious to life and property. The primary impact in London from air pollution is on human health. Persons most at risk are those with respiratory problems, but even healthy individuals who exercise outdoors in urban areas may be subject to health risks.

Air pollutants and smog are monitored and reported using an Air Quality Index (AQI) with zero corresponding to no measurable concentration levels to 31 being good, 50-99 being poor and over 100 being very poor. For daily readings contact the provincial Ministry of the Environment, 135 St. Clair Avenue W., Toronto, ON M4V 1P5. Call 1-800-565-4923 or visit www.ene.gov.on.ca.

There are two levels of Smog Alerts: smog watches are issued when there is a 50% chance elevated smog levels will occur within the next three days and smog advisories within the next 24 hours, or immediately if widespread, poor AQI readings occur and if weather conditions are conducive to levels expected to continue for several hours.

The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) publicizes poor advisory days and has various information bulletins on air quality issues. Call the Environmental Health Division at 663-5317 for more information.

The MLHU also enforces London's Anti-idling by-law. The bylaw prohibits idling of vehicles over 5 minutes, except for certain circumstances such as cold weather (less than 5°C) or hot weather (greater than 27°C). According to Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency, idling an average car for 10 minutes every day can produce approximately a quarter tonne of CO2 emissions every year.

Reporting

Over half of London’s air pollution reaches us upwind from the United States with the remainder coming from local vehicle emissions, industrial smokestacks and coal burning power plants. However, thousands of other smaller contaminants airborne exist including dry cleaning chemicals, fumes from gas stations, auto body and print shops, chemical sprays, gasoline or diesel-powered machinery ie leaf blowers, home, school, office furnace particles and products sold such as oil-based paint and pesticides for our lawns.

Municipal

The City of London’s community energy use and greenhouse gas emissions data by each sector beginning with 1990 baseline data was organized by a municipal Task Force on Energy and Air Emissions (2000). Energy use being a major contributor to air emissions. This database achieved the first milestone of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ ‘Partners for Climate Protection’ campaign to reduce community energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of which London joined with an air emissions study (1996).

The Ontario Medical Association reported in 2005 that poor air quality costs Ontario citizens over $1 billion, kills more than 5,900 people prematurely each year with approximately 17,000 Ontarians admitted to hospitals due to air pollution exposure. That number is expected to jump to over 24,000 by the year 2026. 5,900 lives lost being considerably higher than the 1,900 estimated in 2000. They also reported that children and seniors are more vulnerable to the fine particulate component of smog. Smog has also been found to damage forests, agricultural crops and natural vegetation. Smog-causing pollutants even contributes to corrosion of materials like rubber and stone.

The importance of trees and vegetation is often overlooked. Trees trap dust, airborne particular matter and ozone thereby improving air quality and human health and reducing smog. Since concrete and the lack of a natural ecosystem prevent trees from reseeding themselves in most parts of an overall urban forest, it becomes our job to continually plant new trees. Not only do they moderate air temperature, but through photosynthesis, their leaves take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen for us to breathe. Locally, ReForest London’s “StraTreegic Plan” has become a great success as an initiative to match funds and provide support to the local community with treeplanting projects. Planting trees being a proactive measure as we face the growing threat of climate change.

A City staff position was later established from the Task Force recommendations and an Air Quality strategy developed has undertaken a number of initiatives to improve direct emissions from city facilities and assets as well as projects within the community.

Examples of City projects include:
• Landfill gas, containing methane (a greenhouse gas) and odour-causing gases, is being collected and burned in a flare with plans to generate electricity with this gas in the future
• City Hall is heated and cooled by London District Energy’s tri-generation system, the most efficient way to use natural gas (generates electricity as well as steam for heating buildings and chilling water)
• Since the 1990s, the City has used innovative energy performance contracts to make their buildings more energy efficient

The City has also developed a ‘Community of London Environmental Awareness Reporting Network’ (CLEAR) website that identifies environmental indicators (including local air quality impacts) that influence the quality of life for Londoners.

Community energy use by sector data includes 2002 figures and 2004/5 is expected soon. This data is not currently on the City website. As of June 2007, 151 municipalities across Canada are working with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities ‘Partners for Climate Protection’ campaign to reduce community energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Membership and milestones are on their website. The City’s Air Quality Manager can be reached at (519) 661-2500 # 5204 regarding the above projects.

Federal

The federal government makes public federal legislation, guidelines, regulations and incentives specific to man-made polluting emissions and air quality. Information includes documents such as: Canada’s Energy Efficiency Act, the National Energy Board Act and Canada’s Regulatory Framework for Air Emissions.

In April 2007, mandatory industrial targets established included a 150 Megatonne reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (2020) and a 50% air pollution reduction target (2015). Fuel efficiency regulations for cars and light duty trucks (2011 model year) and stronger energy efficiency standards for energy-using products are also in force.

The federal Canada Clean Air Act tabled in October 2006 is being reworked to move industry from voluntary compliance to enforcement and to establish national standards. In July 2007, a national air quality health index was announced to communicate health risks. This differs from the traditional index with a sum of health risks from each pollutant in the index - ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM2.5/PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

There are two main sources of federal greenhouse gas emissions data collected. The first is the National Inventory Report with national, provincial and sectoral level data (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and an analysis of underlying trends in emissions since 1990) to meet its United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and toward Kyoto Protocol obligations annually. Internationally agreed to guidelines are followed developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change using 6 sectors: Energy; Industrial Processes; Solvent and Other Product Use; Agriculture; Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry and Waste.

The second is the greenhouse gas emissions reporting program which targets all facilties that emit the equivalent of 100,000 tonnes or more greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalent units) yearly. This represents only a portion of industrial emitters in Canada, a subset of the larger picture from the national inventory.

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 provides a list of pollutants of concern subject to legislative control and management and these are reported to the National Pollutant Release Inventory. This inventory identifies pollutants released, disposed of and recycled by Canadian facilities. London had 82 facilities including the City’s pollution control plants and W12A landfill listed under 2006 reported data.

The federal Natural Resources Canada’s ‘Idle Free Zone’ provides fact sheets, resources and educational materials to promote personal vehicle idling reduction messages and campaigns.

Provincial

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment uses stringent regulations, targeted enforcement and a variety of innovative programs and initiatives to address environmental issues that have local, regional and/or global effects. Responsibilities include protecting air, land and water to ensure healthy communities, ecological protection and sustainable development for present and future generations.

While the government of Ontario retains the primary responsibility for environmental protection, the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) provides every resident with formal rights to participate in decisions being made on environmental issues. An Environmental Registry provides public access to notices on new or revised laws, regulations, policies and programs through government ministries covered by the EBR. The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario is responsible for monitoring that our government fulfills its obligations under the EBR, including the registry.

For air quality, the ministry oversees legislation and regulations that set strict air standards, facility Certificates of Approval to ensure companies operate within their limits, inspections and investigations of companies out of compliance with regulations and conditions of their Certificates of Approval and education and informing the public on ways to reduce air pollution and protect themselves from effects of poor air quality.

The ministry handles a broad range of air quality issues including: smog alerts and municipal response plans, climate change and emissions reduction trading, transboundary air pollution and US coal-fired power plant emissions, ozone depleting substances and amendments to phase out CFC refrigerants in chillers, large refrigeration and air conditioning units, 5% ethanol in gasoline as of January 2007 and sulphur reductions, Ontario’s Air Quality Index (AQI) data derived from monitoring stations to issue smog alerts, Ontario’s Drive Clean emissions testing for vehicles (once a vehicle is five years old) and diesel-powered trucks and buses, renewable and alternative fuel incentives as well as environmental compliance reporting on exceedances of contaminant discharges to air and water from industrial and municipal facilities regulated by the ministry.

The AQI monitors six key air pollutants - sulphur dioxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, total reduced sulphur compounds, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter. These pollutants were chosen as they have an adverse effect on humans and the environment at high levels. The AQI can be accessed at www.airqualityontario.com or 1-800-387-7768. OR 1-800-565-4923.

As part of its commitment, the government updated its legislation (Regulation 419: Air Pollution – Local Air Quality in November 2005) to protect local communities and reduce industrial emissions combining protective air quality standards with modern scientific methods and implementation tools. As decisions on air standards are made, the regulation is amended on air standard concentration limits for contaminants assessed using air dispersion models and/or ambient monitoring.

Ontario’s Clean Air Action Plan 2004: Protecting Environmental and Human Health includes: working on Canada wide standards for particulate matter and ozone adopted in 2000 by Health Canada, replacing Ontario’s coal-fired power plants with cleaner energy, developing emission caps for key industrial sectors and improving Drive Clean to make it even more successful to reduce emissions.

Ontario’s Smog Reduction Targets at a Glance

Ontario’s new Clean Air Plan in 2007 will have targets and timelines for emissions that cause poor air quality and strategies of renewables, conservation, cleaner fuels, land and natural resource protection, industry emissions reduction, education and adaptation.

A number of publications from the ministry are accessible to the public on their website at http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/en/publications/index.php. For example, the ministry‘s Transboundary Air Pollution in Ontario 2005 report and their yearly Air Quality monitoring reports (2005).

To improve local air quality, some easy steps are:

• Walk, ride a bike, car pool, take public transit, keep car in good repair
• Hold a teleconference instead of travelling to meetings or arrange to telecommute from home as part of your work week
• Reduce the use of oil based paints and glues, pesticides, air conditioners and gas-powered small engines, such as lawnmowers, chainsaws and leaf blowers
• Turn down air conditioners, turn off lights not needed, avoid aerosol sprays, don't light up barbeques and reduce smoking
• Shut the engine off, even for short stops – one minute of idling uses more fuel than restarting your engine. Avoid drive throughs and park instead. Drive at moderate speeds and check your tires regularly. Refuel your vehicle after sundown when air pollution levels are lower and gasoline vapours won’t add as much to the problem.
• Even in winter, the presence of fine particulate matter in the air can cause smog. To avoid winter smog, reduce car use and turn off your vehicle when parked.
• Consider fuel efficiency when buying a new vehicle by referring to NRCan’s yearly fuel consumption guide which also includes vehicle greenhouse gas emission impacts
• Reduce energy use and learn more about alternative energy sources for your home. Keep your air conditioner at 25C+ or utilize ceiling fans or small fans instead.
• Do not burn leaves, branches or other yard waste. Limit the amount of wood you burn in your fireplace or wood stove. Use only dry, seasoned varieties of wood.

Write letters to media and politicians, consider joining a citizen’s committee to advocate for cleaner air in your community.

Did you know?

The catalytic convertor in your car does a great job of eliminating hydrocarbons and other pollutants once it is hot. But, its effectiveness is greatly limited until it reaches its operating temperature of 300°C. Between 60% and 80% of the toxic air emissions from automobiles occur during the 'cold start' period. Source - National Renewable Energy Laboratory 2001.