Air quality in Saskatchewan is getting a good grade from the provincial government.
A new study by the Ministry of Environment looked at pollutants like sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particulate matter over a 10-year period.
It found the air quality to be either good or excellent.
That includes the area around La Loche which some people had worried was being negatively affected by acid rain from the Alberta oil sands.
The government’s chief engineer, Kevin McCallum, says they found no evidence acid rain was affecting air quality:
“The air quality in that area, actually, was really good and did not show any signs of what would have been expected from the concerned citizens.”
The La Loche station has since been moved to Buffalo Narrows.
In addition to La Loche, results were also looked at from stations in Regina, Saskatoon, North Battleford, Swift Current and Prince Albert.
Data was also collected using the Saskatchewan Air Monitoring Lab, a mobile air monitoring vehicle, at Buffalo Narrows, Beauval, Ile-a-la-Crosse and Loon Lake during 2007 and 2009.
He notes La Ronge got a monitoring station last year, and Creighton got one four or five months ago.
While data from them wasn’t ready for this year, he expects to see results next year.
McCallum says it’s the first time they’ve compiled a study like this, but they plan to do it every year.