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6. Reporting
The information on monitoring, analysis, quality assurance/quality control
and release estimation provided in this Guidance Document can be used
to calculate releases for reporting to existing federal or provincial
programs or for internal company use.
From time to time, Environment Canada requests release data from the
Base Metals Smelting Sector. This information was gathered during the
Strategic Options Process in 1996 and an update of the data was requested
in 2000.
This section focuses on reporting in response to a request for data
from Environment Canada. A Standardized Release Reporting Template is
found in Appendix A. This template is similar to the format used to collect
data from the Base Metals Smelting Sector in 2000.
6.1 Reporting Entity
It is recommended that total releases be reported by facility as opposed
to company-wide totals. This approach is consistent with NPRI.
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6.2 Data to be Reported
6.2.1 General Information
General information to be reported includes:
- Facility Information (e.g., name, address, web site, NPRI
ID#)
- Contact Information (e.g, name, title, telephone number,
fax number, e-mail address)
- Production (e.g., products and by-products)
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6.2.2 Release Data
The total releases from the site should be reported including all releases
including non-routine releases such as spills. Quantities of pollutant
releases are usually quantified in Spill Reports made to provincial agencies.
Air emission data should include both stack and fugitive releases.
In addition to the site-wide totals, information should be provided
for each major release point. Release point data should include:
- Total release from the release point
- Method of estimating releases
- Error Estimation - absolute, percent or degree (high to
low)
- Concentration - average and maximum
- for stack data, conditions for concentration (temperature,
static pressure in the off-gas duct, atmospheric pressure, moisture
content etc.) should also be noted.
6.2.2.1 Reporting Units
It is recommended that releases of
particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, arsenic, cadmium, lead and nickel
be reported in tonnes.
Mercury releases should be reported in kilograms (kg) for consistency
with NPRI.
Dioxins and furans should be reported in grams Toxic Equivalents (g
TEQ)
Concentration in stack samples should be reported as milligrams per
Normal cubic metre (mg/Nm3). Normal conditions are 25°C
and 1 atmosphere.
Concentration in effluent samples should be reported as milligrams per
litre (mg/L).
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6.2.2.2 Example of Reporting Template
An example for air releases
from the Standardized Release Reporting Template is shown in Table
6-1.
The full template is found in Appendix A.
Table 6-1: Example of Air Reporting Template
| |
Total |
Stack A |
Stack B |
Stack C |
Fugitive |
| Annual Release (tonne/yr) |
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| Estimation Method (M, C, E, O) |
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| Error Estimation (%) |
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| Average Stack Conc. (mg/Nm3) |
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| Max. Stack Concentration (mg/Nm3) |
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| Stack Flow Rate (Nm3/h) |
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6.3 Nomenclature
6.3.1 Estimation Method
It is recommended that facilities use the NPRI notation for indicating
the method used for release estimation.
- monitoring or direct measurement (Code M);
- mass balance (Code C);
- emission factors (Code E); and
- engineering estimates (Code O).
A new code of "NI" was added to NPRI in 2000 only for dioxins/furans
for instances when No Information is available.
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6.3.2 Low-Level Releases
The following notations are suggested for low-level releases:
- <LMDL (less than the method detection limit)
means that the facility has tested for a parameter and all results
are lower than the analytical method detection limit;
- n.m/e (not measured or estimated) means that the
facility has not tested for or estimated the amount of pollutant; or
- not significant indicates that the facility has
not tested for a parameter but believes that the quantity of the parameter
released is not significant.
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6.3.2.1 Less Than Detection Limit
Detection limits are defined in Section 3.4. When all analysis in a
given year are less than the laboratory method detection limit, facilities
should use the notation <≈LMDL.
When some samples are above the detection limit and others are less
than the detection limit, it has been suggested that the samples be averaged
assuming a value of the detection limit for samples that were analyzed
as less than detection limit.
For example, if a facility took four water samples and tested for a
parameter with a laboratory method detection limit of 0.01 mg/L. The
four results might be:
The average would then be calculated assuming that the less than detection
limit samples were valued at 0.01 to yield and average concentration
of 0.01375 or rounded to 0.014 mg/L.
Another method is to assume a value of half of the detection limit for
samples below the detection limit for averaging purposes. In this case
the average concentration would be rounded to 0.011 mg/L.
The MAC Data Integrity Group is working on recommending a single method
to calculate yearly loadings where there is a mixture of analysis values
below and above the detection limit.
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6.3.2.2 Not Significant
If a facility reports that a release is not significant, it is recommended
that the facility provide some technical background information to support
this designation.
For example, there might be some analytical data which shows that the
parameter is not present in the releases. Alternatively, some documentation
might be available showing that the parameter is not present in the input
streams.
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