Q. Recently, I read that the air quality in Sudbury is generally better than in many southern Ontario cities. Does this mean that smelter emissions are now less of a threat to Sudbury’s air quality than residential activities like transportation?
A. In the latest “Clearing the Air” report (June 2009), Clean Air Sudbury compared Greater Sudbury’s air quality from 1998 to 2007 to other cities in Ontario. In general, our air quality is better than Hamilton, Toronto and Windsor and comparable to other northern cities, such as North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay.
According to the Ministry of the Environment’s (MOE) Air Quality Index station on Ramsey Lake Road, from 1998 to 2007, Greater Sudbury’s air quality was rated as very good to good 94 per cent of the time, moderate 5.6 per cent of the time and poor 0.2 per cent of the time. It was never rated as very poor.
The main air pollutants of concern in Greater Sudbury include sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ground-level ozone, particulate matter and metals (such as nickel, copper and lead). Sudbury’s smelters have reduced their emissions of sulphur dioxide by more than 93 per cent since 1960. Metal concentrations in local air also decreased between 1998 and 2007 due to reduction measures implemented by Sudbury smelters.
Implementing technology such as BESTECH’s Air Quality Monitoring (AQM) is helping local mining companies continue to improve how they manage emissions.
AQM is an ambient air monitoring solution used by the mines as a tool for monitoring their environmental impact on the surrounding communities, so that they can manage their production accordingly. BESTECH’s AQM technology provides real-time data on emissions in the community and provides local industries and the MOE access to this data.
As the MOE sets more stringent provincial air regulations, local smelters are expected to further reduce air emissions. Vale recently announced billions of dollars in investments for a major overhaul of equipment and processes to improve emission levels.
However, while mining-sector emissions in Sudbury decline, emissions from transportation sources within the city are expected to have a growing impact on our overall air quality.
Environment Canada has estimated that within Greater Sudbury, 70 per cent of nitrogen oxide emissions, 64 per cent of carbon monoxide emissions, 32 per cent of volatile organic compound emissions and eight per cent of fine particulate emissions currently come from transportation.
Unfortunately, Greater Sudbury’s network of fixed monitoring stations is not set up to measure the effects of transportation emissions on our local air quality. As a result, there is currently little or no information on air pollutant concentrations from transportation at street level and in high traffic areas of the city.
Clean Air Sudbury is actively working to fill this data gap. Short-term sampling at five major intersections in Greater Sudbury during the summer of 2009 indicated that concentrations of fine particulates (microscopic dust particles), at times, were substantially higher than concentrations measured at the regional air quality index station.
This suggests that transportation emissions may have a greater effect on our local street level air quality than we realize. Clean Air Sudbury is working towards securing adequate funding to support a city-wide mobile air quality analysis to measure the effects of transportation emissions at street level.
Thanks to EarthCare Sudbury Partners Clean Air Sudbury, Bestech, and Science North for responding to this question. EarthCare Sudbury is a network of more than 100 local businesses, organizations, and agencies that have committed to help Sudbury become greener, cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable.
Do you a question about an environmental issue? Ask an EarthCare Expert. Submit your question online at www.greatersudbury.ca/earthcare. Then watch for this column, published monthly in Northern Life, for a response.
