Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water Thirty-Seventh Meeting October 26 - 28, 2005 Ottawa, Ontario
1.0 Opening
1.01 Introduction and Administration
The Chair welcomed everyone to Ottawa and opened the 36th meeting of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water (CDW). Members and alternates of the CDW introduced themselves. The Secretary noted additions to the agenda package and provided administrative details.
Decision/Action:
- Secretary to forward copies of presentations to members and the revised membership list by November 18, 2005
- Members to fill in travel forms and return them to CDW Secretary before January 6, 2006
- Secretary to send to members final minutes and post to website before February 3, 2006
2.0 Agenda/Meeting
2.01 Adoption of Agenda
No changes were made to the agenda. The agenda was adopted by consensus.
Decision/Action:
2.02 Approval of Minutes
Members noted no changes to the minutes of the last meeting. It was moved that the minutes be approved. The motion was seconded. The minutes were approved.
Decision/Action:
2.03 CDW Plans and Lists
Decision List
The decision list was sent out to members by email. It is a record of the decisions and directions provided by members to the Secretariat during past meetings.
Guideline Production Plan and Status of Contaminant Assessments
The Secretariat has developed a chart as a planning tool that maps guideline development from start to publication. The Secretary noted that each guideline will take approximately 2 to 3 years to develop and that the process will be fine-tuned as documents are worked on. The workload will need to be staggered in order to have 5 to 7 guidelines reviewed per year in a manageable and sustainable way. Members asked for reasonable time frames for review. It was agreed that work plans need to be developed for the other projects the CDW is involved with and that timelines need to be balanced with the guideline development work.
Priorities
The priority list was approved in May. The approved list was sent out in the summer.
Re-affirmation of guidelines
The Secretariat would like to adopt a process of reviewing existing guidelines on an ongoing basis to stay on top of which guidelines needs to be re-assessed, re-affirmed or archived. In 2004, a review was done of guidelines approved prior to 1990. Future reviews would look at guidelines more than 5 years old, including all the chemical and physical parameters.
At this time, the bulk of the guidelines are being put forward for re-affirmation of the guideline values only. The risk management issues may be updated in the future as a separate process. Re-affirmation does not mean that a comprehensive review has been done.
Members discussed the spreadsheet of parameters that are being considered for reassessment or reaffirmation. Two pesticides were added to the list for re-assessment because they may be added to water for mosquito control. Ontario suggested adding 1,4-Dioxane (from personal care products) and NDMA (a disinfection by-product) to the priority list. Members agreed turbidity should be added to the list of microbiological parameters, to be reviewed regularly for a change in status. Members agreed NDMA would go high on the priority list because it is a disinfection by-product and that 1,4-Dioxane would be added to the workplan for review late next year.
Members agreed the Secretariat should draft a revised priority list with the pesticides scheduled to be delisted in the next few years moved to the bottom. Exposure data for these guidelines will be collected for the next review. It was agreed that the documents should note the basis on which each guideline is re-affirmed and also that the review has not been comprehensive.
Archiving of guidelines
Members gave their approval in principle for the list of four parameters to be archived.
Decision/Action:
Decision List
- Members to check the content of the decision list against the meeting notes
- Secretariat to send members the decision list by November 18, 2005 and ordered by contaminant and by date
Work Plan & Priority List
- Members agreed in principle to a staggered work plan
- Secretariat to develop work plans for the other projects that the CDW is involved with, with timelines shown on a similar but separate sheet from the guidelines work
- Members approved the process for comprehensively reviewing the guidelines every two to four years
- Members agreed with the list of guidelines to be re-assessed adding in pH and ammonia and two new parameters, 1,4-Dioxane and NDMA. Members also added turbidity to the list of microbiological parameters that are looked at every year
- Members agreed with the list of guidelines to be re-affirmed and noted that the documents should state the basis on which each guideline is re-affirmed and that the assessment has not been comprehensive
- Members to review the list of pesticides in the re-affirmed chart that they might want to archive next year when the use of the pesticides will be discontinued
- Members gave their "approval in principle" for the list of four parameters to be archived
- The Secretariat will send out revised priority list and workplan for CDW review and approve by March 2006, to be sent to CHE before their next meeting
Other
- Secretariat to provide members with the list of pesticides that are being phased out by November 18, 2005
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