Metro Vancouver Reference Panel recommends monitoring long-term cumulative impacts of multiple contaminants in liquid discharges

Cumulative Impacts of Multiple Contaminants

“Current senior government regulations deal with one contaminant at a time and even though levels may be below some set threshold, the presence of multiple contaminants and their interaction can have impacts on organisms in the long term that are not being considered,” states Dr. Ken Hall,  a scientist on the Metro Vancouvr Liquid Waste Reference Panel.

“The current Cautions, Warnings, Triggers (CWT) process as employed by Metro Vancouver focuses mainly on individual contaminants.”

“This is why the Reference Panel has recommended that Metro Vancouver undertake more extensive monitoring of the long-term cumulative impacts of multiple contaminants in effluents….both from point and non-point sources. This will help us move from protect to improve the natural environment.”

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Originally posted on Water-Centric Planning community-of-interest in August 2009