Environment committee  Perhaps I misspoke. We were talking about the regulation of municipal waste-water effluent that would set a standard for treatment. It would reduce the amount of phosphorus, among other substances, that would be entering any waterway.

Environment committee  We have pretty good information on that matter. It's a question of moving to a secondary treatment for municipal waste water, which is in line with what this national standard would be proposing. This secondary treatment would probably allow us to reduce phosphorous entering into

Environment committee  I meant that 40% of the phosphorous coming into the system would be removed through secondary treatment. If there were an augmentation, even beyond the secondary treatment, then there are ways to reduce the amount of phosphorous in the effluent leaving the plant by up to 90%.

Environment committee  There are technologies that will go a long way toward doing that, yes.

Environment committee  I regret to say that in fact in this instance our consultations have focused on actually putting a standard in place and more of the technical aspects around that, such that we have not explored on an economic basis this larger real issue you are describing.

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  Yes. Perhaps my colleague from Justice Canada could respond to that.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. We are very pleased to be before you today to assist you in your consideration of this bill. I would like to begin by spending a moment on the important issue of blue-green algae and the role of phosphorus in its growth. We know