Clean Air Sudbury says air quality 'improving'

Morning North6:24Sudbury has some of the cleanest air in Ontario

A new report looking at the Sudbury's air pollution shows that Sudbury has some of the cleanest air in Ontario. The CBC's Marina von Stackelberg spoke with the author of the report Ray Potvin.When many people think of Sudbury they conjure up visions of smoke stacks and treeless rocks.

But a new report shows Sudbury's air quality is improving, and on average is rated better than other similar cities like North Bay and Sault Ste Marie.

The study was commissioned by Clean Air Sudbury, a non-profit group funded by mining companies Vale and Glencore. The report analyzed government air quality data from 2008 to 2014.

• Visit the Clean Air Sudbury Website

In that time frame, Sudbury's air is described as either "very good" or "good" 94 per cent of the time based on the air quality index, which measures various pollutants in the air.

"The emissions that are local here from the smelters, the vast majority of the time don't reach ground level. So the concentrations at ground are very, very low." said Ray Potvin, an air quality consultant who authored the report.

Those scores also had a lot to do with Sudbury's location, Potvin said. Other industrial cities in the province like Sarnia, Windsor and Hamilton all have worse air quality because along with their own emissions, they also deal with pollution that travels across the border from major U.S. cities like Detroit and Chicago.

Sulphur dioxide still a problem

One emission of particular concern in Sudbury is sulphur dioxide--- the majority of which is caused by the mining industry.

"A lot of people have the misconception that Sudbury's air quality, based on sulphur dioxide, is worse than other cities, and that's not the case," Potvin said. "But that doesn't imply that Sudbury doesn't have further work to do in terms of reducing their emissions."

Despite overall reductions in sulphur dioxide emissions, Sudbury still ranks behind larger cities like Toronto and Ottawa for the amount of the gas found in the city's air.

"In terms of sulphur dioxide we really are in the middle of the pack. And so more effort has to be made in my opinion to continue improving," said Jennifer Harvey, co-ordinator for Clean Air Sudbury.

Harvey says Sudbury's sulphur dioxide amounts will hopefully decrease as mining companies are forced to comply with tougher government regulations.

"It feels like we have very poor air quality here because historically we did," Harvey said.

"We do see a sincere effort from industry that they really are doing their best and spending as much as they can."