Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Canada's economic development depends on the manufacturing and transportation of goods, chemicals, and oil throughout Canada and the United States. Both industrial, commercial, and municipal activities consume chemicals and oil which partially and inevitably spills to our environment. From 1988 to 2013, there were more than 76,000 reported chemical and oil spills in Ontario, ranging from a hundred to thousands of liters of spilled chemicals and oil spills to our water environment. After the compilation of 10 years of spill data from the Ontario Spill Action Centre in 1998, the applicant and his research team have developed a research niche in municipal spill management. Building upon the previous chemical spill research supported by NSERC Discovery Grant, it is proposed to continue spill research towards achieving the long-term research objective of comprehensive municipal spill management planning. The short-term research objective in the next 5 years will focus on municipal oil spill management that addresses stationary (industrial based) and mobile (transportation based) spills and the associated receiving water impacts and risks. The research methodology will involve (1) compilation and analysis of an up-to-date oil spill database; (2) development of a spill management framework for oil spills; (3) development of planning tools for the oil spill management framework; and (4) demonstration of the oil spill management framework. An up-to-date oil spill data will be analyzed to identify trends and relationships. The proposed oil spill management framework will focus on prevention, control, response and cleanup of oil spills. Planning tools (based on historic and stochastically generated spill locations and estimated travel times) will be developed to identify spill prone areas where municipalities can coordinate with industries and road engineers to develop spill prevention measures. Spill control measures focus on devices that prevent spills from entering the water environment (e.g. oil/water separators, treatment interceptors). Planning tools will be developed to identify suitable devices in terms of location and effectiveness. Spill response and cleanup measures focus on minimization of spill impacts. Planning tools (based on historic and stochastically generated spill locations) will be developed to identify spill prone areas and identify the appropriate response and cleanup measures at strategic locations. Water quality planning models for rivers will be developed and Monte-Carlo simulations will be used to evaluate receiving water risks of spills with and without spill prevention control, response, and cleanup measures. This project will develop the first comprehensive municipal planning framework for oil spills in Canada and set the stage for on-going municipal spill management research in Canada and other industrial nations.