The map-based website is a database of chemical substances and pollutants emitted to air, water and soil, and transferred off-site for treatment or disposal. A total of 360 large scale industrial facilities in Ireland are covered by E-PRTR reporting requirements.
Facilities in Ireland included in PRTR reporting come from the power generation, wastewater treatment, chemical, intensive agriculture, minerals & cement sectors. Also included are large companies in areas such food and drink and waste sites.The information is now available to the public on the national PRTR website at http://prtr.epa.ie/.
The EPA website, developed last year, is fully searchable using GIS maps. The site can be searched by sector, facility or by chemical substance. It provides information about the release and transfer of pollutants from industrial or business facilities which exceed certain thresholds. It also provides reports on the amount of substances released to the environment or transferred off-site for waste management.Commenting on the register, Gerard O’Leary, Director, EPA said:“The website enables public access to information about the environment and increases awareness about pollutants or substances released to the environment, either locally, regionally or nationally.
Overall, the data shows a continued downward trend in 2010 for key substances or pollutants to air such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane and non-methane volatile organic carbons.”The national website is linked to a global portal to Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) information and activities from countries and organisations around the world. Data is updated twice-yearly and is currently available for the years 2007-2010. The European e-Register is available at http://prtr.ec.
