In 2006, the Government of Canada initiated the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP), which takes action regarding chemicals that are harmful to human health or the environment. One element of the CMP is Monitoring and Surveillance, which generates data on the presence and levels of chemical substances in environmental matrices. These data are used to make decisions regarding the best approach to protect Canadians and their environment from risks these substances might pose.
In support of the CMP, a surface water monitoring program was initiated to generate data on priority substances that may be released to the environment. The purpose of the surface (fresh) water monitoring program is to gather information from representative lotic and lentic systems across Canada to determine the levels of selected chemical substances entering the receiving environment.