Background

Environmental commitment is one of the City of Saskatoon's core strategies, with the ongoing implementation of a corporate-wide Environmental Management System (EMS) identified in the 2009-2011 Corporate Business Plan. This initiative is coordinated by the Environmental Services Branch and modelled on the ISO 14001 international standard for environmental management. With this commitment, the City is joining over 1,000 other Canadian municipalities and corporations in establishing a structured EMS.

An EMS is the part of the City's overall management system used to develop and implement its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects - it is a system that relates to the achievement of environmental objectives by providing a framework to analyze, control and reduce the environmental impact of its activities, products and services, and operate with greater efficiency and control.

The City of Saskatoon's Environmental Policy (C02-036) includes the commitments to:

1. comply with applicable legal and other requirements which relate to its environmental aspects;
2. prevent pollution; and
3. continually improve the EMS.

How It Works

The EMS is based on the "Plan, Do, Check, Act" model of continual improvement, consisting of six major elements:

1. General Requirements - a defined and documented scope of the EMS, which in this case will be all activities, products and services of the City of Saskatoon;
2. Environmental Policy - a statement by the organization of its intentions and principles in relation to overall environmental performance, providing a framework for action and for setting environmental objectives and targets;
3. Planning - identification of environmental aspects and legal/other requirements relating to the aspects, development of objectives, targets and programs to address significant environmental aspects;
4. Implementation and Operation - identification of resources, roles, responsibility and authority, recognition of training requirements, establishment of communication and documentation procedures, development of operational and emergency control programs;
5. Checking - monitoring and measurement of significant aspects/impacts and performance of the EMS in terms of objectives/targets, evaluation of compliance with legal/other requirements, correction and prevention of problems, control of records, internal audit to ensure conformance to and adequacy of the EMS;
6. Management Review - the requirement of top management to review the EMS at planned intervals, and to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness.

An EMS will enable the City of Saskatoon to conserve resources and to be more productive; it will give all employees and contractors the knowledge they need to eliminate incidents of non-compliance to environmental legislation; it will help to ensure that the best solution is reached from an economic, social and environmental standpoint over the entire lifecycle of a project.

Milestones

• February 2005 - Consultant's report submitted to the Environmental Services Branch
• March 2005 - Initial review of Water Treatment Plant and Environmental Services Branch undertaken
• December 2006 - City Council formally adopts an Environmental Policy (C02-036)
• April 2007 - Year 1 objectives, targets and programs established for the Environmental Services Branch
• May 2007 - Year 1 objectives, targets, and programs established for the Water Treatment Plant
• November 2009 - Full-time EMS Coordinator hired
• 2010 - Continue corporate roll-out of EMS at Branch level (see below)

Roll-out of the EMS has been initiated in the Departments and Branches listed below, with each Branch at varying levels of implementation. It is anticipated that full implementation will be complete in 2012.

• Community Services: Community Development, Land, Leisure Services
• Infrastructure Services: Facilities (Buildings and V&E), Parks, Strategic Services, Transportation
• Utility Services: Saskatoon Transit, Environmental Services, Water and Wastewater Treatment (Water Treatment Plant, Wastewater Treatment Plant, Water Meter Shop)