Water – What we’re doing

Water is a renewable resource, but it is in limited supply. Water management must ensure that, first and foremost, we always have enough clean water to sustain us and our aquatic ecosystems. Water use for commercial, agricultural and industrial purposes cannot jeopardize nearby communities or the environment.

In Alberta, all agricultural, industrial, municipal and other water users must apply to Alberta Environment for a license to divert and use water. Allowed water uses are called allocations. The chart below shows the relative size of all water allocations in Alberta. Oil and gas water use includes both conventional production and oil sands production.

Oil sands water use

Oil sands producers use water to recover bitumen from the sand. The industry uses both groundwater (water from underground formations) and surface water (water from lakes and rivers) to extract bitumen from the oil sands. Oil sands operations use approximately 176 million cubic metres of water per year – about one third of the City of Toronto’s annual consumption in 2008.

Critics of the industry argue that too much water is used in oil sands production, and that water is polluted by oil sands processes. Oil sands water management technology has improved, and producers are committed to further reductions in fresh water use. As well, producers have many systems and processes in place to ensure that oil sands operations do not impact water quality in the Athabasca watershed.

How water is used in the oil sands

Water sources, uses and handling are quite different between the two types of oil sands recovery – mining and in situ.

Mining

In the case of surface mining recovery, water is used to separate the oil from the sand in an extraction plant. The waste product is called tailings – a mixture of water, sand, fines (clay minerals) and residual oil. With this process, it takes approximately four barrels of water to produce one barrel of oil. About two to three of these barrels are drawn from the Athabasca River. However, between 80 to 95 per cent of that water is recycled to be used again. Put another way, each barrel of fresh water withdrawn from the Athabasca River for oil sands mining is reused and recycled 18 times.

In situ

For in situ recovery, water is heated and converted to steam, which is then injected into underground reservoirs that contain bitumen. The bitumen is heated by the steam, enabling it to flow to a producing well. The two most common processes are cyclic steam simulation (CSS) and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). Where possible, the industry uses saline (brackish) water from deep underground formations, which is not fit for human consumption. With the increased use of brackish water, the in situ oil sands industry has reduced the amount of fresh water required to an average of half a barrel of fresh water for one barrel of bitumen. Some SAGD operations use no fresh water at all and in 2007, more saline water was used for in situ oil production than fresh water.

How water use is regulated

Water use is regulated through systems of licensing and monitoring. In Alberta, Alberta Environment regulates oil and gas industry water use under the Water Act. Oil and gas companies are subject to the same conditions for use as any other licensed water user in Alberta. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans also regulates the oil sands industry.

How water is allocated and monitored

Alberta Environment closely regulates the amount of water that industries can use. The oil sands industry accounts for about five per cent of Alberta’s total water allocation. In 2007, the oil sands mining industry withdrew a total of 160 million cubic metres of water from the Athabasca River – less than 1 per cent of average total river flows and about 5 per cent of the lowest weekly winter flows. As well, alternatives to fresh water must be investigated for all water use before licenses are issued.

Before new water can be allocated, Alberta Environment considers natural water supply, needs of the environment, apportionment agreements and existing licenses. The first step is to determine the amount necessary for the aquatic environment, for apportionment agreements, and for existing water license holders. Depending on weather conditions, the amount allocated is different each year.

In the oil sands region, the Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program (RAMP) studies fish species presence, fish habitat and water quality (chemistry, sediment, benthic organisms) annually. RAMP is a multi-stakeholder body funded primarily by the oil sands industry.

Key Oil Sands Water Issues

Athabasca River Flow

The Athabasca River is the largest river running through the Alberta oil sands, and is the primary source of fresh water for communities in northern Alberta and for the mining side of the oil sands industry. Oil sands mining operators are allowed to withdraw water from the river within strict limits established by Alberta’s Water Management Framework for the Lower Athabasca River. This framework caps how much water oil sands companies can remove.

The amount of water permitted to be withdrawn from the Athabasca for all oil sands projects – existing and future – is equivalent to less than three per cent of the average annual flow of the Athabasca River. Today the amount withdrawn is under one per cent of the average annual flow. Even with anticipated growth in oil sands production and water use, the Athabasca River will remain one of the least used river basins in Alberta.

However, the Athabasca River has highly seasonal flow rates (high in the summer and low in the winter), and concern has been expressed about water withdrawals in the winter. The maximum allowed withdrawal is equivalent to about five per cent of average winter flow levels.

Canadian Natural Resources, adapting to the limits on total allowed water withdrawals, has created a system to store water for approximately 30 days at their new Horizon mining project. This ensures that, during low flow periods, they can stop drawing from the river and still have enough water on hand to continue operating.

The established oil sands companies have also worked to reduce their water use in recent years. As one example, Suncor has reduced its total water use by 40 per cent over the last five years.

Tailings Ponds

The oil sands mines (not the in situ facilities) use tailings ponds in the production process. Tailings contain the water, clay, sand and residual bitumen that is left over when the bitumen is separated from the sand. The ponds help separate the solids from the water so the water may be recycled into the process again. They also serve as storage facilities, allowing water to be stored for low flow periods when water availability is restricted. During and after mining, the tailings ponds are reclaimed. No tailings water can be released to the Athabasca River or any other watercourse. A report by Environmental Defence claims that there is significant seepage from the tailings ponds into groundwater and into the Athabasca River. The possibility of seepage is anticipated when tailings ponds are engineered and built, and containment systems and monitoring wells are required.

The tailings ponds are often described as toxic. This is technically true, as demonstrated by the fact that a flock of ducks died in the spring of 2008 when they landed on a tailings pond and drowned in the oily water. But the term can create the misperception that the ponds are full of dangerous chemicals. In fact, it is the high concentration of materials that were originally present in the oil sands -- residual bitumen, clay, and sand -- that makes the ponds toxic to wildlife. Because the water in the tailings ponds is repeatedly re-used to process more raw oil sands, the other materials in the ponds become more concentrated over time. Companies use fences, noise cannons and other methods to keep birds and animals away from the tailings ponds.

Tailings ponds account for large areas of the land disturbance of oil sands mining. Existing tailings ponds cover approximately 130 square kilometres. They cannot be reclaimed until they are filled in – for up to 40 years after they were started. Suncor Pond 1 will be the first tailings pond to be reclaimed, with an expected date of 2010.

New technology is being developed that should speed up the tailings pond reclamation process and reduce the volume of tailings. For example, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. will use the CO2 that comes from the upgrader at their Horizon project to add to the tailings pond, creating thickened tailings that are faster to reclaim. This process could have the added advantage of reducing CO2 emissions. As well, there is good early progress on dry tailings technology that could ultimately eliminate the need for these large ponds at the mining operations.

A new Alberta government directive requires all oil sands operators to be converting fine tailings into reclaimable landscapes by 2012. This will result in fewer fine tailings, a decrease in the number of new tailings ponds, and faster reclamation of new and existing tailings ponds.

In-situ water use

All oil sands operators look first for alternatives to fresh water use. Where possible, in situ oil sands producers use saline (brackish) water as alternatives to fresh. From 2001 to 2005, the amount of fresh water used for in situ projects decreased, while the amount of saline groundwater used almost doubled. It is expected that by 2020 less than 0.5 per cent of Alberta’s current water allocation will be required by the in situ oil sands industry, which by then will be producing almost 40 per cent of Canada’s crude oil.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s Primrose and Wolf Lake projects offer an example, where the use of saline and brackish water has increased, and recycling technology has improved. The result is a significant increase in bitumen production, with no associated increase in fresh water use. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has an objective of reducing fresh water use by 73 per cent by 2013 compared with 2006 levels.

Recycling

The oil and gas industry is a leader in researching recycling techniques and reusing water to meet its requirements. Approximately 80 per cent to 95 per cent of the water in major oil sands projects is recycled and reused, including water from tailings ponds.

In situ projects that use saline water from deep formations also treat the water after use. The treated water is then re-injected back into these same formations, so as to not impact the surface or groundwater systems.