U.S. and Canadian water pollution jumps 26 percent.

• Author: Bast, Elizabeth
• Position: Environmental Intelligence

The amount of industrial pollution dumped into U.S. and Canadian rivers, lakes, and streams rose 26 percent in the period from 1995 to 1999, according to a report released in May by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). The report also noted that air emissions declined. In 1999, the United States accounted for 90 percent of the toxic pollutants released by the two countries.

The commission, a tri-governmental body established to address regional environmental issues, used national "pollutant release and transfer registers"--the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory and Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory--to analyze the two countries' toxics releases. Because Mexico's system is voluntary and not all entities report their emissions, it was not included in the compilation.

The number of national pollutant registers worldwide has grown rapidly in recent years, fueled by public demands for the right to know about the hazardous substances produced by local industries. Organizations from grassroots groups to the World Bank now encourage public dissemination of information as a means to empower citizens, particularly in poor communities. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a trade-promoting...