Publications
11 Million Litres a Day – The Tar Sands’ Leaking Legacy
By: Environmental Defence Canada
Published: December 2008
For the first time, this report uses industry information to arrive at a conservative estimate of what the overall leakage from the tar sands tailings ponds is today, and also what it would likely be if proposed projects go ahead.
The results are staggering.
Already, the ponds are leaking over 11 million litres a day of contaminated water into the environment, which is equivalent to over 4 billion litres a year -- enough to fill the Toronto Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome) two and a half times.
And, should proposed projects go ahead on schedule, by 2012 this annual leakage rate would increase five-fold to 72 million litres a day, or over 25 billion litres a year -- enough to fill the Skydome over 16 times
