The Region of Peel and other Greater Toronto Area municipal and regional governments, the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada announced their initiatives to improve air quality today at the 2006 Smog Summit held at Toronto City Hall. The annual Smog Summit focuses on developing short-term, concrete measures to improve air quality as well as encouraging intergovernmental and public-private initiatives to address smog over the long term.

A key outcome of the Summits is the Intergovernmental Declaration on Clean Air. This document outlines intergovernmental smog-reduction initiatives and includes a commitment from all three levels of government to report back to the public. The Declaration will be signed by Regional Councillor and Vice-Chair of Human Services Annette Groves.

Councillor Groves participated in an air sampling exercise in Bolton on May 31 st as part of the Smog Summit activities. Councillor Groves, with the help of two technical assistants from the new University of Toronto's Southern Ontario Centre for Atmospheric Aerosols Research (SOCAAR), sampled the air near heavy vehicular traffic for two key ingredients of smog - ultra fine particulate matter (PM 0.1) and particulate matter (PM 2.5). The sampling showed that these two pollutants spiked when traffic was idling or when truck traffic passed by.

"Cars and trucks are part of our everyday life, but their impacts are being felt. We have to take action to reduce the impacts. We have to think about how we plan our municipalities to protect those most at risk," said Councillor Groves. Further air quality monitoring will be conducted by the Ministry of the Environment at two locations in Caledon for a minimum of two weeks over the summer.

The theme of the 2006 Smog Summit is Partnerships for Clean Air. "Encouraging people to make changes in their behaviour is an important part of the air pollution solution. Partnerships have been critical in extending the reach of Region of Peel's initiatives to improve clean air," said Paul Callanan, Director of Environmental Health, Peel Public Health.

In 2006, the Region of Peel is committed to:

• Developing a long-term sustainability strategy to assess and manage all aspects of growth that affect Peel services.
• Planning a number of renewable energy demonstration projects covering solar electrical generation, solar thermal generation, small wind electricity generation, geothermal heating and cooling and Net Zero Energy homes.
• Implementing single stream recycling and bi-weekly leaf collection to reduce the number of trucks on the road.
• Converting landfill gas to electricity to power Lakeview Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Collaborating with schools to use active and sustainable modes of transportation and working with the local school boards to implement recommendations from the recent Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA) report, "School Buses, Air Pollution and Children's Health".
• Implementing a campaign developed in partnership with Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon to encourage Peel residents to reduce the use of pesticides
• Implementing a number of water efficiency projects:
• Investigating a control system to reduce the amount of electricity consumed by the Region's water distribution system.
• Conducting a water audit pilot project for industrial, commercial and institutional water consumers
• Implementing the second phase of the Peel Living Water Efficiency Retrofit Project by retrofitting another 2,000 residential units with water-efficient toilets, bathroom and kitchen aerators, and shower heads.
• Offering free outdoor lawn and garden consultations performed by the Water Smart Peel's Summer Outdoor Water Efficiency Team to residents. The consultations will help residents plan their landscape, make water wise plant choices, control pest and weeds, and maintain their lawns and gardens with less water. The goal is to conduct 500 outdoor lawn and garden consultations during the summer.

For more information on Regional smog reduction initiatives, please call Peel Public Health at 905-799-7700 or visit peelregion.ca/health/smog. Caledon residents can call toll-free at 905-594-2216.