Ontario Municipalities Are Pilot Testing the EMS for Biosolids

Ontario Federation of Agriculture, City of Hamilton, Halton Region, City of Ottawa, Ontario Ministry of Environment and Environment Canada's Great Lakes Sustainability Fund are sponsoring a demonstration project to evaluate and demonstrate the uses of the Environmental Management System (EMS) for Biosolids developed by the National Biosolids Partnership (NBP) in the US. The EMS is designed to assist municipalities improve their biosolids quality for beneficial uses, assure compliance with government guidelines and regulations, and public confidence and acceptance of their land application program. Information about the EMS including guidance manuals are available at the NBP website "www.biosolids.policy.net"

A Technical Steering Committee has been formed to oversee the delivery of the project. The Committee comprises members from the sponsoring agencies as well as representatives of Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs, Pollution Probe, Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors - Ontario Branch, Center for Land and Water Stewardship and the consultant team. CH2M Hill in partnership with Diamond Management Institute, Ontario and PA Consulting in the US is the successful consultant to this project. Technical consultation and inputs are also being solicited from the NBP in the US. The Committee is co-chaired by Tony Ho of MOE and David Armitage of Ontario Federation of Agriculture. 

The project started in January 2002 and will be completed in 18 months. Project deliverables for each of the three participating municipalities will include gap analyses EMS implementation program and case study reports. The project will also publish an Ontario version of EMS Guidance Manual and Best Management Practices for Biosolids Application Manual, along with presentations and training workshops for staff of the sponsoring agencies, and other Ontario municipalities. 

A first half-day workshop to introduce the EMS to Ontario municipalities and land application companies will be held on April 24 in Hamilton, following the WEAO Annual Conference. The workshop will also cover the experiences learned and benefits achieved to-date in the City of Fort Worth, Texas, USA. The EMS program had been successfully pilot tested in over 27 municipalities in the US. The NBP is in the process of finalizing a third party verification program that will independently certify the municipality who has met the requirements of the NBP's EMS standard. NBP is also expanding the program and signed up another 15 -20 US municipalities to implement the program in 2002. 

Registration form for the April 24 Workshop is attached. Please contact Peter Nicol at pnicol@ch2m.com or Tony Ho at hoto@ene.gov.on.ca if you need more information about the project or the workshop.