2   National Spill Statistics and Trends

2.6   Summary Findings for Spills and Affected Environment

• 2.6.1 Percentage Distribution of Environment Affected by Reported Spills
• 2.6.2 Percentage Distribution of Environment Affected by Province and Territory
• 2.6.3 Percentage Distribution of Environment Affected by Spill Category (Oil, Non-Oil, Waste)
• 2.6.4 Percentage Distribution of Reported Consequences of Spills
• Spills discharged to land occur more frequently than spills to any other environmental medium. A spill of a given product to a waterway may have a much more serious environmental impact than the same spill on land.
  
• The majority of spills impacting saltwater are oils.
  
• The main reported consequences of spills to land are property and vegetation damage.
  
• Better follow-up and reporting on spill impacts with regards to fish, birds and other wildlife are required.
  

2.6.1 Percentage Distribution of Environment Affected by Reported Spills

In this section, all the reported incidents are examined with regards to the medium into which the spill was discharged. More than one environmental medium may be affected by a single spill. Of all reported spills, 48% are discharged to land (Fig. 2.6.1).

Releases to air account for only 6% of reported incidents. This low rate may be partly explained by the fact that releases to air are not always visible and may therefore be reported less often. Many land-based spills may also involve a release to air, but at the time of the initial report are described as land-based spills.

Waterways are second to land as the environmental medium most often affected. Groundwater may be impacted more frequently than statistics reveal (less than 1%); the existence or extent of groundwater contamination is often unknown at the time of the initial spill report and is rarely captured.

The ‘other’ category in this analysis refers to multi-media spills as well as spills that were held within some sort of containment area.

2.6.2 Percentage Distribution of Environment Affected by Province and Territory

Upon closer examination of the environmental media affected, by province and territory, the largest number of spills to land are found to occur in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory (Fig. 2.6.2). There are a large proportion of facilities in the petroleum and mining industries located in these provinces, which in part accounts for the large number of spills affecting land. The Atlantic provinces (including Newfoundland) and British Columbia show high numbers of spills occurring in the saltwater environment, which is related to the marine activity on the east and west coasts. Quebec and Ontario have a higher number of spills affecting freshwater environments, which can be explained by the density of human population and activities adjacent to the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and other fresh water bodies.

2.6.3 Percentage Distribution of Environment Affected by Spill Category (Oil, Non-Oil, Waste)

Every spill has the potential to affect one or more environmental media. The following chart (Figure 2.6.3) shows how different types of spilled material — described as ‘spill categories’ — are distributed among the various media.

Nearly half of the incidents impacting air are from chemicals, with about 35% from oils and hydrocarbons.

Land is affected mostly by spills of oils and hydrocarbons (nearly 70%). The saltwater and groundwater environments are, in the majority of cases, also impacted by oils and hydrocarbons. The freshwater medium, on the other hand, is mostly impacted by wastes and effluents (52%).

2.6.4 Percentage Distribution of Reported Consequences of Spills

Figure 2.6.4 is a representation of reported consequences shown as a percentage of the total number of incidents, where data are available. The data available for this particular analysis are limited. However, the results are interesting and provide an indication of the most frequent consequences of spills.

Property damage is the most frequently listed consequence (41%), followed by vegetation damage (38%). The fact that leaking pipes result in a large number of spills helps to explain the high percentage of reported consequences in these two categories.

Data for specific consequences such as oiled birds (<1%), contaminated drinking water (<1%) and income loss (<2%) are very limited and are therefore shown grouped in the ‘other consequences’ category. This category also includes the consequences not already indicated (approximately 14%) for a combined total of 16% of all reported consequences.

The number of reported fish kills is also quite low. There are several reasons that may contribute to an explanation. The evidence of a consequence of this type may not always be visible at the time of the initial report. Evidence of an impact may only become obvious days or weeks later.

As large number of spills affect both freshwater and saltwater, more complete reporting is required in this area in order to ensure that incident reports are updated if additional follow-up data become available. This would result in a more accurate representation of the impact of spills on fish, bird and other wildlife populations.