At the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance annual general meeting in 2012, Andrea Brack talked about Nova Chemicals' Joffre operation and how the ethylene and polyethylene plants are managed relative to the site's operating approval for water and wastewater.
Nova Chemicals is a participant in "Responsible Care", a Canadian chemical industry ethical standard established in 1985 that is now world-wide. Responsible Care promotes continuous improvement of environmental, health and safety performance, through verification audits, Nova's Joffre site had its first verification in 1997. In 2012 Responsible Care now calls for water use reporting. As part of its Responsible Care program, Nova Joffre, holds open houses, participates in community events, distributes newsletters has advisory panel meetings annually. The Joffre plant uses about 60% of its total licenced water withdrawal from the Red Deer River. The planned polyethylene expansion will increase about 10% the average usage. On-site rainwater is captured to minimize water withdrawals from the Red Deer River. About 13% of the withdrawal is returned to the river. Andrea covered the components monitored in the treated discharge water. Total Phosphorus (TP) had one month exceedence in 2008 when the phosphorus removal system was under maintenance.
Andrea Brack is the Environmental Regulatory Specialist at Nova Chemicals, Joffre. Before that she worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Board, in Red Deer. She has an environmental engineering degree from University of Guelph.
