Portfolio

My Career:

I have worked for many years at Environment Canada as the Senior Advisor on Environmental Quality Guidelines in the National Guidelines and Standards Office.  In this capacity, I contributed to the development of Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines (CEQGs) for the benefit of Canadians, and their use in the Chemicals Management Plan and for Clean, Safe and Secure Water.  The Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines are nationally approved, science-based indicators of environmental quality, nationally mandated by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA, 1999). They are recommended numerical or narrative limits for a variety of substances and environmental quality parameters, which, if exceeded, may impair the health of Canadian ecosystems.

Professional Achievements:

  • Worked for 19 years at Environment Canada (until 2011), assessing substances and developing national and federal environmental  quality guidelines (mostly for water and tissue residues; for  organics and inorganics [including many metals]).   This work was done for the national Water Quality Task Group (under the auspice of the Canadian Ministers of the Environment [CCME], under the federal Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA 1999), and under the federal Canadian Chemicals Management Plan (CMP);
  • Led the team that developed the 1999 Canadian Environmental  Quality Guidelines Compendium (the "CEQG binder"  - a compilation of all the published EQGs in Canada);
  • Chaired the national team that developed the 2007 CWQG Protocol  - the nationally approved derivation procedure for the Canadian Water Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life;
  • Guided the incorporation of the Species Sensitivity Distribution approach into the development of EQGs; and the incorporation of the Biotic Ligand Model into EQG derivation;
  • Assisted in the development and application of methods and approaches for the derivation of site-specific environmental quality guidelines that consider natural background, local water quality conditions, and resident species;
  • Chaired the EC Working Group for guidance development of Threshold Value Determination for CMP substances (SSD, PNEC, guidelines)
  • Developed and conducted with a colleague numerous training courses on the proper application and development of CWQGs;
  • Developed numerous water, tissue residue, and site-specific guidelines;
  • (Co-)Authored several PSL-1 Assessments (Priority Substance List assessments under CEPA 1988);
  • Contributed to the development and national implementation of the Water Quality Index in Canada;
  • Course conductor for Environment Canada's CWQG courses;
  • (Co-)Author of numerous publications related to water quality;

 

Currently:

  • Independent environmental consultant, specializing in water quality issues and providing advice,  guidance, and knowledge transfer related to EQGs;
    • Providing advice and services on the development and use of Environmental Quality Benchmarks to governments, consultants and industry;
  • Educator and course conductor on water quality issues and water quality benchmarks (nationally and internationally).
  • Spearheading the International Harmonisation of Environmental Quality Guidelines, Standards, Criteria, and /or Objectives; leading to international co-operation in the development of such benchmarks;