The National Environment Protection Council (NEPC) has invited comments from the community on the operation and content of the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI).
The NPI provides information on the types, amounts and effects of pollutants being emitted into communities.
The NEPC said it had established a National Pollution Inventory Review Steering Committee to conduct the review, which wants to hear from users about their experience with the NPI and any ideas they may have for the future of the program.
It said the NPI has tracked pollution across Australia since 1998, ensuring communities have access to local information about the emission and transfer of potentially polluting or harmful substances that may affect them.
The NEPC said the NPI now holds data on 93 substances that have been identified as important due to their possible effect on human health and the environment.
It said these data come from more than 4,000 facilities around Australia and from other sources such as households and transport.
The NEPC said it has produced a discussion paper that describes the process, goals and objectives of the NPI, presents case studies of typical uses for NPI data and describes the operations of the NPI throughout, often benchmarking it against similar international programs.
Submissions on the NEPC’s 67-page discussion paper close on 10 August and it can be accessed at this PS News link.
