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New Environmental Management System Helps Responders Clean Up Spills
Every year, as many as 14,000 oil spills are reported around the world. Many of these spills are easy to contain and clean up, but others'such as the Exxon Valdez spill off the coast of Alaska in 1989' can devastate the environment and its wildlife, not to mention jeopardize jobs and quality of life for local inhabitants.
Preventing spills is preferable to dealing with them. But if an oil or hazardous chemical spill does occur, cleaning it up quickly and properly is critical. The Environmental Emergencies Branch of Environment Canada has harnessed the power of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) to help emergency-management organizations and government agencies in Canada work together to mitigate the effects of these kinds of disasters.
The Environmental Emergencies Branch has created a system 'the Environmental Emergency Management System or "E2MS"' that capitalizes on the CGDI's vast reservoir of interoperable geographic data layers. By combining spatial-information management tools and technologies with spatial data and information, E2MS uses the CGDI to enable emergency organizations, federal government departments, and provincial emergency-measures agencies to respond more effectively to oil and chemical spills.
"E2MS is not a mapping application," said Mary-Ann Spicer-Robinson, Manager, Response, Environmental Emergencies Branch. "It's an information-management decision-making tool. It equips spill responders to make better decisions by improving their access to shared data, information, and knowledge. Better decisions ultimately result in improved response times and cleanup, protecting our valuable natural assets."
A "common operating picture" puts responders on the same page
The key to E2MS's value? By using the CGDI, it provides all emergency-response organizations with a "common operating picture" of an incident. In other words, each responder has access to the same information, even though this information may come from different data repositories across the country. And each partner may plot their area of interest, track decisions, and confidently access the most current information.
For instance, say that a train carrying hazardous chemicals derails near a lake. Using E2MS, local authorities could quickly determine whether the lake feeds a municipal water system and whether the site can be accessed by road. Experts at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans could determine whether the spill threatens fish habitat. Provincial environmental authorities could assess whether the spill posses a risk for certain endangered wildlife and plant species.
Because this information is available to any environmental emergency responder with a web browser and Internet access, an expert in an office thousands of miles away from the spill could easily guide and advise those on the frontlines. "Before E2MS, we would have to get the various players together around the same table, and they would come in with their data in hard copy. To complicate matters, the data was often out of date or inaccurate," said Ms. Spicer-Robinson. "With E2MS, they can meet without being in the same province let alone the same room and know that they are all looking at the same up-to-date data."
E2MS harnesses CGDI's information-sharing capability
At the heart of this information-sharing capability lies the CGDI. E2MS uses the standards, specifications, and best practices of the CGDI to enable the environmental emergency management community of practice to share data and information more effectively and efficiently. "The CDGI provides more than technology," said Ms. Spicer-Robinson. "It also represents a philosophy of sharing and working together for common objectives. These are the characteristics that define E2MS."
E2MS was made possible with $100,000 of funding and support from GeoConnections, a national partnership initiative to evolve and expand the CGDI. Other partners included Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, Canadian National Railway, International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited, and many other federal and provincial departments and agencies with an interest in environmental emergencies.
E2MS addresses the need to coordinate responses to environmental emergencies
E2MS evolved for two main reasons. For one, the environmental emergency community of practice realized that responding to oil and chemical spills often requires coordinating a variety of organizations'the polluters themselves, municipalities, provincial authorities, and federal departments. And two, no single system existed that would provide these disparate organizations with the cohesive perspective and common information needed to manage an environmental emergency.
"Environmental emergencies involve many shared responsibilities, and we needed to be more proactive in addressing common goals with our many partner agencies," said Ms. Spicer-Robinson. "With E2MS, we now have a long-term strategy to respond to, manage, and mitigate environment spills to protect the health, welfare, and safety of Canadians and their environment."
Partners include: GeoConnections-Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada, Canadian National Railway, Health Canada, Parks Canada, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Emergency Management Ontario, Nova Scotia Department of Environment & Labour, Mackenzie Delta Spill Response Corporation, International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited, Prince Edward Island—Department of Environment and Energy, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Atlantic Emergency Response Team, Prince Edward Island—Emergency Management Organization, Nova Scotia Emergency—Management Organization
| GeoConnections is a national partnership initiative to evolve and expand the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure. |