online pollution tracker

citizens are now able to check how bad for their health industrial plants near their homes are, after the EU's executive Monday opened an online tracker for the main pollutants.

The register 'will give citizens direct access to information on (pollution) emissions from facilities across Europe and will help them to engage actively in decisions affecting the environment', EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement.

The register collects pollution data from around 24,000 industrial plants, ranging from incinerators to factories, across the EU.

For each plant, it lists the types and amount of pollutant the facility pumped into the air, water and ground, and how much it shipped elsewhere.

For example, the main incinerator in Brussels pumped out 493,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, 801 tonnes of nitrogen oxides, 44 kg of arsenic and 33 kg of mercury in 2007.

The Corus UK steelworks in northeastern England emitted a cocktail of harmful gases and liquids including carbon monoxide (88,700 tonnes) and hydrogen cyanide (two tonnes) in the same year.

Visitors to the website can search for a specific place name or facility, or browse according to location, type of business or pollutant.

The tracker is available online at: http://prtr.ec.europa.eu.

Pollutant Descriptions

Data are provided in the register for 91 pollutants falling under the following 7 groups:

• Greenhouse gases        
• Other gases     
• Heavy metals   
• Pesticides        
• Chlorinated organic substances
• Other organic substances         
• Inorganic substances.

For more information about the complete list of the 91 E-PRTR pollutants and the thresholds above which their releases have to be reported, see the following summary document.

A complete description of the 91 E-PRTR pollutants will be shortly available. This will include information on the main impacts on human health and the environment of the pollutants concerned. It will not, however, indicate the risk to human health or the environment from the emission releases levels in a specific area at a specific point in time.

Information on the 50 pollutants already covered under EPER is available on the EPER web-site. The required reporting for these 50 EPER pollutants corresponds in almost all cases to what is required under E-PRTR. However, there are some differences regarding the groups BTEX, PAHs and for CO2. More information on these differences can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions.

Reporting to E-PRTR shall be carried out based on measurement, calculation or estimation of releases and off-site transfers. Where reported data are based on measurements or calculation, the method shall be indicated in the E-PRTR register using specific designations. For more information on measurement and calculation methodologies, see the related Frequently Asked Question.

An activity is usually related to a typical pollutant release spectrum – this is an indicate list of pollutants that may be released when undertaking a particular activity. Appendices 4 and 5 of the E-PRTR Guidance document contain two tables which give operators and competent authorities an example of the pollutants which may be released in the performance of a specified E-PRTR-relevant activity.