What are Canada's Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations?

Highlights

• Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations put a limit on maximum quantities of suspended solids and biochemical oxygen that can be deposited by pulp and paper mills into water frequented by fish under prescribed conditions
• The regulations prohibit any effluent deposits which can be acutely deadly to fish
• Pulp can also be developed from semi-chemical, chemical, or mechanical processes that are used to change raw materials into fibers to develop the paper

To conserve fish and their habitat and human health from harmful substances from pulp and paper mills, the government of Canada has introduced Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations that were created under the Fisheries Act in 1971 in Canada to control deposits of harmful substances in water frequented by fish. Today, in this article, we will learn about these regulations.

To improve water quality, conserve fish, fish habitat, and fisheries resources’ usage, the government of Canada has designed Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations (PPER).

Elements of Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations

• The regulations put a limit on the suspended solids and maximum quantities of biochemical oxygen that can be deposited by pulp and paper mills into water frequented by fish under prescribed conditions.
• The regulations prohibit any effluent deposits which can be acutely deadly to fish.
• To identify effluents impacts on fish and fish habitats, these regulations include requirements for mills to host environmental effects monitoring.

Also read: What is Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?

What are pulp and effluents?

Pulp comes from fiber crops, wood or wastepaper. The pulp can also be developed from semi-chemical, chemical, or mechanical processes that are used to change raw materials into fibers to develop the paper.

Water is used abundantly to produce pulp. The pulp and paper industry in Canada is second after municipalities in wastewater output. Between 80,000 and 130,000 cubic meters of effluents per day are released by a typical kraft mill into water.

The various paper and pulp-making processes, including pulp washing, regeneration of cooking chemicals, bleaching, and more are responsible for creating effluents, a complex combination of waste. Canada is one of the leaders in pulp and paper products production globally.

Also read: What is Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) 2012?

 Impacts of regulations on Canadian business

There are several requirements for pulp and paper mills which are set by the PPER and they include the following:

• It monitors effluents.
• It gives information regarding the reference production rate.
• It prepares an emergency response plan and makes it available to those on site.
• It maintains, calibrates, and installs monitoring equipment and holds on to records of that equipment.
• It prepares and updates a remedial plan yearly. This plan describes the operator's actions for removing all unauthorized deposits of harmful substances when an effluent does not pass the acute lethality test.
• It focuses on delivering written reports and additional sampling related to depositing a harmful substance in water that is frequented by fish and is not regularized under the Fisheries Act, which can result in causing danger to fish, fish habitat, and human health.
• It submits monthly reports which consist of product information and results of the effluent monitoring.

Also read: What is the modernized Fisheries Act in Canada?

The history of Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations (PPER)

Since the establishment of the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations (PPER), pulp and paper mills have improved their effluent quality.

Under the Fisheries Act, PPER became the first regulated sector in 1971 and focused on governing deleterious substance discharges and lowering their impacts on fish and fish habitats in Canada.

The PPER puts a limitation on total suspended solids (TSS) and biochemical oxygen demanding (BOD) matter and does not allow any effluents deposits that can be acutely destructive to fish. Environment Canada had discovered by the end of the 1980s that the 1971 regulations did not get desired effluent quality improvements.

So, it changed the PPER in 1992 by presenting requirements for all off-site treatment facilities (OSTFs) and mills to host environmental effects monitoring (EEM) studies and develop effluents which would not acutely impact Rainbow Trout.

EEM studies are organized by industries for identifying the potential effects of effluents on fish, and fish habitats. It includes effluent chemical characterization, water quality monitoring, biological and effluent sublethal toxicity testing.

Also read: What is the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999?

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Bottom line

The PPER has improved effluent quality over the years by adopting improved management and operational practices and wastewater treatment technologies. The adoption of practices and technologies played a role in lessening deleterious substance deposits.