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Groundwater at risk from oilsands: report
News Articles Featured | Calgary Herald | July 22, 2011
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Alberta government approvals of in situ oilsands projects have outpaced the province’s development of rules to protect the water underground, says a new report from a Canmore-based water conservation group.
Water Matters says underground water supplies, called groundwater, are critical for sustaining healthy rivers, lakes and wetlands, yet Alberta government planning does not properly protect the resource from in situ operations.
The report, titled Drilling Down: Groundwater Risks Imposed by In Situ Oil Sands Development, says surface land disturbances and unsealed wells increase the potential for groundwater contamination – and key shallow aquifers are especially susceptible to harm.
The report makes a number of recommendations, including that a scientific plan for expanded groundwater monitoring be drawn up.
It also calls for the development of “a publicly accessible and searchable database of all wells used for in situ oilsands operations, detailing which wells have been reclaimed and which have not.”
The federal government’s integrated oilsands environment monitoring plan, released by federal Environment Minister Peter Kent on Thursday, includes a groundwater monitoring component.
Earlier this month, the Alberta government also said that it was working toward an overhaul of environmental monitoring in the oilsands.
Tagged with: in situ, water matters, groundwater contamination, monitoring
