WC136 MayJune 2024 - Magazine - Page 16
WASTEWATER
There are currently no federal or provincial
regulations regarding a waste disposal limit for PFAS.
However, some overlapping protection is in place
through other regulations.
Moving forward with PFAS management
One relevant project Boonstra highlighted was completed in
2022—after five years of study. ECCC scientists, with support
from the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and
Parks, looked at the potential impacts of landfill contamination
of groundwater on Great Lakes surface waters and ecosystems.
Initial results are available in the peer-reviewed literature.
Research continues on PFAS pollution, with consideration for
indications of landfill leachate contamination in nearby streams
(via groundwater pathways) at a variety of sites across southern
Ontario.
To assess federal and provincial response to the challenge,
we checked with Environmental Defence Canada, which has
been examining the response. Cassie Barker, senior program
manager for Toxics, provided an assessment of current Canadian
government policies and programs. Barker said that “Canada
has a massive PFAS pollution problem and is looking at moving
beyond the failed substance-by-substance approach and regulating PFAS as a toxic class of chemicals. It must follow the lead of
the markets and regulators working towards getting it out of our
products, as other jurisdictions have been moving towards PFAS
phase-out solutions that turn off the product-based tap.”
Barker offered the EU as a useful example. It has developed
the policy roadmap for product phaseouts, U.S. states are bringing in PFAS product reporting legislation, and corporate leaders
are moving away from producing and using PFAS.
Discussing Canadian efforts to address PFAS pollution in
municipal waste landfills, Barker was asked if current projects are
effectively mitigating impacts on nearby water. Her response was
clear: “The drinking water guideline recently established earlier
this year for a handful of PFAS does little to address the problem
itself and fails to offer municipalities the upstream tools they
need to get sources of PFAS out of their drinking water.”
To better understand provincial initiatives, we inquired with
the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
for insights into their current PFAS-focused policies. We learned
that B.C.’s landfill criteria is currently limited in addressing
PFAS. Nevertheless, the province mandates that a qualified professional establish appropriate water quality criteria and compliance points, and provide related rationale and justification.
Through their provincial Contaminated Sites Regulation, the
Province provides details about their approach to groundwater
16
WATER C AN ADA • M AY/JUNE 2024
sampling.) As well, B.C. has developed PFOA
guidelines to protect human health, as well
as guidelines for PFOS and perfluorobutane
sulfonate (PFBS) for the protection of the environment and the public. Regulations also specify
PFAS limits in soil and water for different land
use applications.
Since 2018, B.C. has been a member of the
Southern Residents Killer Whale Contaminants
Technical Working Group, led by Canada’s
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, with PFOS as
a top concern.
B.C. is certainly not alone in attempting to approach this
problem. According to Jason Penner, communications advisor for
the Alberta Ministry of Environment & Protected Areas, “PFAS
is an emerging contaminant of concern and concentrations within and around landfills are not yet well understood. Currently in
Alberta, there is some voluntary monitoring of drinking water
being done by the City of Edmonton and City of Calgary, but
PFAS are not typically analyzed in the characterization of waste,
surface water run-off, landfill leachate, or groundwater.”
Inquiring about Alberta’s plans, Penner stated “there are
currently no federal or provincial regulations regarding a
waste disposal limit for PFAS. However, some overlapping
protection is in place through other regulations. These include
provincial standards for landfill design to ensure leachate is
appropriately managed and regulations that require water wells
to be at least 450 metres from a landfill.”
Quebec also recognizes the significance of PFAS as an
emerging contaminant. According to Frédéric Fournier, communications advisor and regional spokesperson for Quebec’s
Ministère de l’Environnement, “per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances are considered as contaminants of emerging interest” by his provincial government. They do recognize “these
contaminants constitute a chemical or material that poses a
potential or real threat to human health or the environment,
for which knowledge is often fragmented and which is not yet
subject to criteria or standards relating to the protection of
health and the environment.” Fournier added “this explains
why PFAS are not taken into account in the current body of
regulations on the disposal of non-hazardous waste,” namely in
the “Landfill and Waste Incineration Regulations” (REIMR).
Fournier notes that the Ministère has been monitoring perand polyfluoroalkyl substances in Quebec rivers since 2007. In
total, 375 water samples from 57 sampling sites, spread over
37 rivers were taken and analyzed for SPFA.
The impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on aquatic
environments are assessed based on Quebec’s surface water quality criteria (CQES). Fournier argues that “the concentrations of
such substances measured so far by the Ministère in Quebec rivers have always been below the water quality criteria for surface
water for the protection of aquatic life.”
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
