More than eleven chemical parameters are monitored daily to ensure the quality of water discharged from our operations meets all applicable regulatory criteria.

Automated water samplers ensure representative composite samples are collected every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  All of Algoma’s water effluent discharges are consistently significantly below legislative requirements during normal operating conditions, with five elements consistently registering less than the detection limit.  Additionally samples are sent to a third party where acute lethality and chronic toxicity tests are conducted to determine if there could be any short or long term effect on key indicator organisms.  To date there have been no negative results from these tests.

As an Industrial Energy Innovator, Algoma strives to conserve all natural resources.  This includes the efficient use of and recycling of water.  The installation of water recirculation systems in the Direct Strip Production Complex, the blast furnace and the cogeneration facility significantly reduces the demand for water, enabling us to recycle over 45% of our water.