Environment committee  I don't think we now have a full understanding of the replacement products, what they will be, their identities, let alone their toxicology. I would have to say that they have not all been assessed.

Environment committee  We will certainly need time to assess this, particularly if there are new substances that would fall within our new substance guidelines. We would have to go through the process. Industry would have to notify us of their intent to begin using them, and we would have to assess the

Environment committee  I think we should assess the replacement products as soon as we get their identities. That will take some time. We don't know what all of them are yet. So if some that we have not previously assessed are new substances, we will need time.

Environment committee  In my experience with laundry detergents back in the seventies and eighties, the first replacements were quite a bit more expensive, but proprietary products were developed as detergent builders that reduced the cost. It's another process that requires time. The initial products

Environment committee  The blooms are certainly more obvious in Lake Winnipeg, for example. The blue-greens occur naturally right across the country in virtually every lake. The bloom phenomenon is what's getting folks' attention. It certainly started there first, although Lake Simcoe, for example, and

Environment committee  I'm not aware of any, but we'd have to go back and check to see if anyone else has. I'm not aware of any, no.

Environment committee  I would answer that by saying that watersheds are different.

Environment committee  Watersheds are different, and it's a bit risky to draw on national averages as if they represented individual conditions. What we have heard about the blue-green algae problem is that in areas on the Canadian Shield where agriculture is not a major factor, we still see this enric

Environment committee  In specific watersheds the contribution will be higher where agricultural practices are less important.

Environment committee  Has phosphorus been assessed in dredging waste? I'm sure that our dredging disposal guidelines consider phosphorus. I don't know the number off the top of my head, but it certainly has been a contaminant. It's been known for quite a while. We do have guidelines for the open dis

Environment committee  Thank you for your question. We have done some research on the migration of both nutrients and microbes and viruses in soils from septic systems, which we do communicate to the provinces and municipalities, who are in fact responsible for the bylaws that control these. So, yes,

Environment committee  I don't have those figures, but we have analyses that could shed some light on the question. It's certainly in the billions.

Environment committee  If I correctly understood, for surface waters, which is your question, we have Canadian water quality guidelines, some of which are formulated for the protection of aquatic life. They are not national regulations, however; they're national guidelines, which are implemented by th

Environment committee  Secondly, we have been working with Agriculture Canada in recent years to try to formulate environmental quality standards with respect to beneficial management practices in agriculture, such as the setbacks and buffer zones, etc., and their performance with respect to the actual

Environment committee  Secondary treatment is a general term, and there are many ways to accomplish it. What you're hearing is an average. In fact, depending on how you do it, how well run the plant is, and how you monitor it, you may get higher than 40%. You may get as much as 60%. Then you can add