Canadians are dropping the bottle and going back to the tap when it comes to drinking water, according to a recent environmental study.
Statistics Canada released its biennial Households and the Environment report this week. The report, which comes out in odd-numbered years, surveyed about 15,000 households to track their behaviour towards the environment.
The report found that 66 per cent of Canadians drank tap water in 2009, up from 59 per cent in 2007. Bottled water consumption dropped to 24 per cent from 30.
That’s an encouraging sign, says St. Albert environmental manager Leah Jackson, who has an “I love tap water” button on her briefcase. “In Canada, our tap water is very high quality and there’s really no need to buy bottled water.”
Bottled water is just as safe as tap water, but takes considerably more energy to treat, transport and package.
While about 75 per cent of Canadians had at least one compact fluorescent light bulb in their house, the study found that about 56 per cent tossed burnt-out ones in the trash.
Bad idea, says Gordon Dewis, who managed the study. “Compact fluorescent lights contain materials like mercury and phosphorous,” he notes, “and these can have an environmental and health impact if not disposed of properly.”
St. Albert residents can ditch their burnt-out bulbs at any Home Depot or Edmonton Eco Station, Jackson says, or at the city’s annual toxic waste roundup.
Canadians have gone green in other ways as well. About 49 per cent of households use recycled or reusable shopping bags — up 19 per cent from 2007— and about 42 per cent had low-flow toilets, compared to nine per cent in 1991.
The study is available at statcan.gc.ca.
A provincial review has vindicated an Edmonton-based researcher who said Alberta’s oilsands industry was polluting the Athabasca River.
The provincial Water Monitoring Data Review Committee released its review of oilsands pollution studies done by the province and two University of Alberta researchers this week.
Water biologists David Schindler and Erin Kelly published peer-reviewed studies in the last two years that suggested the oilsands industry caused more pollution in the Athabasca River than previously thought. That contradicted studies by Alberta Environment and the industry-backed Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (RAMP), both of which said the industry was not polluting the river.
Premier Ed Stelmach struck the aforementioned committee to examine the research. The committee examined the Schindler/Kelly studies and compared them to ones by Alberta Environment and RAMP.
The review largely agreed with Schindler and Kelly’s conclusions. “[Polycyclic aromatic compounds] and trace metals are being introduced into the environment by oilsands operations,” the committee writes, referring to toxic substances associated with the oilsands, but more study is needed to determine the exact amount of pollution that could be blamed on industry.
The review found no contradiction between the four studies as each had a different focus. Schindler and Kelly had pointed out significant gaps in oilsands research, the review found, and the province should change its monitoring program to track specific pollutants like mercury over the long term.
Schindler says he was relieved but not surprised, by the review’s results. “I feel like I’ve got a giant gorilla that’s been lifted off my back.”
This review and the many others that have accompanied it all show a need to revamp the province’s environmental monitoring system, he says, a revamp he fears might be scuttled by budget cuts.
The review can be found at environment.ab.ca.
