Increased costs for companies.Inco Ltd. says regulations imposed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment after the Walkerton crisis will only increase paperwork and costs for the company's Sudbury operations, which have used water for everything from suppressing drill dust to providing. communities withdrinking water for decades. Carolyn Hunt, Inco's coordinator for environmental effects monitoring, says the company has been working to reduce its consumption of vast quantities of water for many uses while maintaining quality where it matters. The local mill recycles 100 per cent of roughly 15,000 US gallons of water per minute, and while it is not uncommon for Northern mines to treat water to potability standards, Inco has two comparatively large treatment plants that serve entire communities besides their industrial operations. The Vermilion vermilion, vivid red pigment of durable quality. It is a chemical compound of mercury and sulfur and is known as red sulfide of mercury; it was formerly obtained by grinding pure cinnabar but is now commonly prepared synthetically. Water Treatment Plant, located on Highway 17 just west of Sudbury, supplies the communities of Lively and Copper Cliff with communal water. Meanwhile, Inco's Levack Water Treatment Plant supplies water for the community of Levack and its local operations. Company officials are currently reviewing submitted design and build tenders for the proposed Totten Mine Water Treatment Plant as part of the mine's development. It is a tender that welcomes any new technology to improve production while, as Hunt says, "guarding our environmental stewardship The integration and application of environmental values into the military mission in order to sustain readiness, improve quality of life, strengthen civil relations, and preserve valuable natural resources. . We're open for ideas." Everywhere it seems that environmental stewardship is at the forefront of discussions about water. In a regulatory environment swirling with changes after the Walkerton tragedy The Walkerton Tragedy is a series of events that accompanied the contamination of the water supply of Walkerton, Ontario, Canada, by E. coli bacteria in May 2000. Summary , Hunt says Inco questions the need for some the ministry's new regulations. "We don't have a problem meeting the requirements, but if it's not going to get us further ahead, we question why. We have good water quality." Considering Inco's scope of operations, the company has to tap into some big resources and budgets to treat drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. and wastewater. Aside from operating and monitoring water treatment plant operations, Inco monitors and treats waste water with lime, and in some cases certain types of waste water and sludge require additional costly treatment. Hunt says Inco's Sudbury operations spent $65 million for environment and health projects in 1996 (the latest year for which figures are available), which included water management and decommissioning Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from operational status. Some specific instances include:
Hunt says Inco has no plans to divest To deprive or take away. Divest is usually used in reference to the relinquishment of authority, power, property, or title. If, for example, an individual is disinherited, he or she is divested of the right to inherit money. itself of its water treatment plants, but new regulations imposed by the Ministry of the Environment post-Walkerton have added to the company's workload without any apparent benefits. However, quality is just one factor in the equation. Where Inco determines it is too costly to provide employees with potable potable /pot·a·ble/ (po´tah-b'l) fit to drink. po·ta·ble adj. Fit to drink; drinkable. potable fit to drink. water via pipes, they simply ship in bottled water, as is the case with the Frood Stobie Complex. Inco is not the only company in Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it that supplies bottled water to its employees and potable water to the mine site or town residents, says Barbara Mossop, manager of engineering and environmental services The various combinations of scientific, technical, and advisory activities (including modification processes, i.e., the influence of manmade and natural factors) required to acquire, produce, and supply information on the past, present, and future states of space, atmospheric, with the Ontario Mining Association (OMA (1) See Object Management Architecture. (2) (Open Mobile Alliance Ltd., La Jolla, CA, www.openmobilealliance.org) An organization formed in June of 2002 by the consolidation of the WAP Forum group and the Open Mobile Architecture Initiative. ). Mossop says she does n6t expect a change in the way those and most other mines operate their waterworks waterworks: see water supply. in order to meet the new regulations. Mines also address water quality and quantity issues through ministry of environment certificates of approval and the Ontario Health and Safety Act, Mossop says. Mines drawing less than 50,000 litres of water per day are classed with other operations ranging from resorts to small industrial shops and are not subject to the same regulations as are owners and operators of water-Works drawing more than that limit. Mossop says about ten of the roughly 40 mines in Ontario fall under this category, and the OMA has attended consultation sessions on behalf of its members to track the issue. |
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