CANADIAN PCB EMISSIONS INVENTORY

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Ambient Air Emissions and Atmospheric Depositions

IADN Data
Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN). Atmospheric Deposition of Toxic Substances to the Great Lakes: IADN Results Through 1998. (.pdf)

"magnitude of PCB wet deposition fluxes is similar for Lakes Superior, Erie, and Michigan. Lake Erie, however, seems unique in that all PCBs measured there reached peak fluxes around 1994 and 1995 and then decreased in the following three years. Gas exchange of PCBs has been, for the most part in the direction of net volatilization consistently over time with only Lake Michigan showing signs of nearing air-water equilibrium." (p. ii)

Sum-PCB total deposition across the basin also showed net volatilization for all years (1992-1998). Even so, PCB flows out of the Great Lakes have decreased dramatically over time, with the largest drop occurring between 1994 and 1995 when total PCB flows went from -3100 kg/yr to -940 kg/yr.

Suite-PCB shows a net loss from the lakes, except for Lake Michigan in 1998. This means that the lakes are acting as a source of PCBs to the atmosphere.

IADN Summary Data:

There are two Canadian master stations - Burnt Island, Lake Huron and Point Petre, Lake Ontario. Deposition from the particle phase measurements were not made after 1996 because concentrations were found to be insignificant in this phase.

For the two Canadian stations, PCBs were also not measured for the precipitation phase, just vapor and particle phases. There are no summaries available for the Canadian data, unlike the United States. Also, a PCB-suite measure has only appeared for the most recent 1997 and 1998 data, while before then, sample measurements were only available for individual congeners.

Quebec St. Lawrence data:

There are three stations collecting data on atmospheric deposition of PCBs - at Saint Anicet, Villeroy, and Mingan.

Toxic Air Emissions

1998 Great Lakes Regional Inventory of Toxic Air Emissions: Ontario by County (.pdf)

Each Great Lakes state and the province of Ontario has prepared a state / province - wide inventory for 82 toxics, using 1998 data. This base year inventory includes point, area, and mobile sources.

For Ontario, province-wide emissions were 1.56 lbs., all from point sources. Information from area, mobile, and nonroad sources is blank for PCBs, but the report doesn't state whether that is because this information is not available.

Great Lakes Commission. 1998 Inventory of Toxic Air Emissions: Point, Area, and Mobile Sources: Ontario by County. January 2002, p. 1.