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-/~ <br />•ST. CLr~,IR RIVER SITUATIO~~ REP <br />A. INIROD[JCTION <br />ik~w Chemical's spill of zerc'.lloroethvlene into the St. Clair River <br />near Sarnia in P.ugust 1995 and the occurrence of small "glees", <br />(Fist size) of a tarry substance on the river ~ttom have kxcorre a <br />Focus of public envirorurental concern in Ontario. Concern centres <br />on the safety of the drinking water supply drawn frrzn the St. <br />Clair arr3 the extent and source of contamination of the St. Clair <br />River in the Sarnia area. This situation report, ccmpiled by <br />Environment Canada and the Cntario Ministry of r^nviron.ment; <br />provides a summary of the environr;ental conditions of the river, <br />past and present pollution r~ntrol practices in the area; ark <br />current goverrurznt actions. <br />B. EWIRO1v~lENI'r1L CONDITIO[dS <br />1. POINT SOURCES - IWUSTRL~.L <br />The "Chemical Valley" at Sarnia is axnmsed of a Homer of <br />petroleum refineries a-~ petrochemical plants, rtnstly a3jacent to <br />the river, within ten kilomQtr?s south of the business mre. Taole <br />1 lists the industries in order of location (Hotta to south) art] <br />provides a list of products. iae facility list re?resents the bulls <br />of the industry located on the St. Clair River and the ayes along <br />the shoreline which is r~nst degraded in terms of water and sediment <br />quality. The attached map sP,ocas ~'^.e location. of the St. Clair <br />River and Sarnia in south~aestern Ontario along with the location of <br />specific facilities identified in the attached tzale. <br />These industries discharge a daily total of 1.7 billion litres of <br />process, rxsling and storm water (1983 annual average). The <br />Ontario Ministry of the Environment regulates the discharge of <br />conventional pollutants such as suspended solids, tretals such as <br />lead, and a limited group of organic contaminants such as total <br />phenols. This is effected by a variety of means such as Control <br />Orders, Certificates of Ppproval arc the use of Chtario's C-eneral <br />Industrial Discharge Objectives or Federal Industry Scecific <br />Regulations and Guidelines. Contral Orders and Certificates of <br />Approval may or may not stipulate actual discharge objectives for <br />s~cific pollutants. D/er the last 2~J years, the industries in the <br />area have acchmolished major rEr~.:ctions in the dischare nE <br />pollutants by installing end~f-?iob treatment such as the <br />installation of 5io-oxidstion plants at Polysar and the ~troleum <br />refineries, rtndifying rranuf=_cturicg processes, a xl recycling <br />wastestreams. <br />'~ <br />