Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory

Introduction

The Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory (FCSI) includes information on all known and suspected contaminated sites under the custodianship of federal departments, agencies and consolidated Crown corporations. It also includes non-federal contaminated sites for which the Government of Canada has accepted some or all financial responsibility. It does not include sites where contamination has been caused by, and which are under the control of, enterprise Crown corporations, private individuals, firms or other levels of government.

In accordance with the Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Real Property, federal organizations must report, update and certify specified data in the FCSI. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the FCSI application and reporting requirements.

The FCSI displays a standard set of basic and annually updated information for federal contaminated sites. Each contaminated site record includes information such as the location of the site, the severity of contamination, the contaminated medium, the nature of the contaminant, progress made to date in identifying and addressing contamination, and how much liquid and solid-based media have been treated. Search results can be displayed as a table or a map and can be downloaded as a text file.

What is a contaminated site?

In accordance with the Treasury Board Policy on the Planning and Management of Investments, the definition adopted by the government of Canada for a contaminated site is "one at which substances occur at concentrations that: (1) are above background levels and pose, or are likely to pose, an immediate or long-term hazard to human health or the environment; or (2) exceed the levels specified in policies and regulations. A real property may have more than one contaminated site."

Obtaining more information

For more information on the management of federal contaminated sites, please visit https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/pollution-waste-management/contaminated-sites.html 

For questions regarding specific contaminated sites, please refer to the Official Contacts for each reporting organization in the FCSI: https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/fcsi-rscf/officials-officiels-eng.aspx

To report technical issues or to obtain additional information regarding the FCSI, please contact FCSI-ADMIN-ISFC@tbs-sct.gc.ca.