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Data quality, concepts and methodology: Data sources and methodology

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Reference period

The information contained in this report reflects volumes of water intake and discharge and some associated costs by industrial users for the calendar year 2011. The Industrial Water Survey is a biennial survey.

Survey frame

The frame used for sampling purposes was the Statistics Canada Business Register with the observed population of all manufacturing, selected mining and all thermal-electric locations as defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2007. The statistical unit was the location. The location, as a statistical unit, is defined as a producing unit at a single geographical location at which or from which economic activity is conducted and for which, at a minimum, employment data are available. Locations may also be referred to as cost centres or as revenue centres, based on the availability of accounting information about them.

The target population consisted of locations primarily engaged in manufacturing, coal mining, metal ore mining, non-metallic mineral mining (excluding sand and gravel quarrying), nuclear electric power generation and fossil-fuel electric power generation. The population size was 89,986 manufacturing locations (NAICS 31 – 33), 702 mines (NAICS 2121, 2122, 2123, excl. 21232) and 116 thermal-electric power generating plants (NAICS 221112, 221113).

Coverage and sample selection

There was an independent sampling strategy for each of the three sectors.

A census was taken of the thermal-electric power generating stations component of the survey.

A stratified simple random design was used for sample selection in the manufacturing and mineral extraction sectors.

In the mining sector, mines were stratified by province and by 4-digit NAICS industry.

In the manufacturing sector, locations were stratified by industry (3 and 5 digit NAICS) and by geography (drainage region – see map 1 in the Analysis section). To reduce response burden on small units, the smallest units of the industries of interest are excluded from the population. In each combination of industries, locations that make up the bottom 5% of the size measure by drainage region were excluded.

The manufacturing component of the survey was divided into four sampling groups:

  1. Must-take industries (all locations in this group were selected to receive a questionnaire);
  2. Heavy-rate industries (sampled at a relatively high rate);
  3. General industries (sampled at a lower rate than the “heavy-rate” industries) and;
  4. Negligible industries (sampled lightly, just enough to permit an estimation of the coverage).

A list of industries in each of the sampling groups follows:

Must-take industries:

  1. 322111 Mechanical Pulp Mills
  2. 322112 Chemical Pulp Mills
  3. 322121 Paper (except Newsprint) Mills
  4. 322122 Newsprint Mills
  5. 324110 Petroleum Refineries
  6. 325110 Petrochemical Manufacturing
  7. 331110 Iron and Steel Mills and Ferro-Alloy Manufacturing
  8. 331410 Non-Ferrous Metal (except Aluminum) Smelting and Refining

Heavy rate industries:

  1. 311224 Oilseed Processing
  2. 3114 Fruit and Vegetable Preserving and Specialty Food Manufacturing
  3. 31151 Dairy Product (except Frozen) Manufacturing
  4. 31161 Animal Slaughtering and Processing
  5. 31171 Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging
  6. 31199 All Other Food Manufacturing
  7. 31211 Soft Drink and Ice Manufacturing
  8. 31212 Breweries
  9. 31214 Distilleries
  10. 322130 Paperboard Mills
  11. 32518 Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing
  12. 32519 Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing
  13. 32521 Resin and Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing
  14. 325313 Chemical Fertilizer (except Potash) Manufacturing
  15. 327310 Cement Manufacturing
  16. 331313 Primary Production of Alumina and Aluminum
  17. 334410 Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing

General industries:

  1. All other industries not stated in 1, 2 or 4

Negligible industries:

  1. 315 Clothing Manufacturing
  2. 316 Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing
  3. 323 Printing and Related Support Activities
  4. 337 Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing

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