A new report authored by Water Matters sheds new light on the significant impact that oil sands activities have on water resources. The report profiles key issues such as leakage from tailings ponds, wetlands destruction, water flows, and bird deaths.

The report, Watered Down: Overcoming Federal Inaction on the Impact of Oil Sands Development to Water Resources was released on November 23 by the Alberta Wilderness Association, Environmental Defence, Keepers of the Athabasca, the Pembina Institute, the Polaris Institute, the Sierra Club of Canada and Water Matters. Watered Down reviews testimony on oil sands activities made to the federal House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development earlier this year. The majority of testimony from non-governmental organizations, legal and scientific experts, First Nations and the Northwest Territories government suggested that the damaging impact of oil sands activity on Canada's water resources required more federal involvement.

Watered Down's primary recommendation is the Government of Canada should live up to its legislative responsibility and substantially increase its role in protecting human health and the environment through the oversight and regulation of the oil sands industry's impact on fresh water resources and aquatic ecosystems.

Key areas discussed in the report:

1. Growing volume of toxic tailings ponds: As of June 2008, 720 million cubic metres of toxic water sat in tailing ponds now covering 130 square kilometers. The earthen dykes holding these tailing ponds are among the largest human-made structures on earth. By 2030, oil sands expansion is expected to triple, creating an even larger legacy of toxic tailings unless new processes are introduced that limit the production of tailings.
2. Leaking tailings ponds: The report states "there is no doubt some tailing ponds seep toxins into groundwater and surface water." The National Energy Board agrees that the "principal environmental threats from tailings ponds are the migration of pollutants through the groundwater system and the risk of leaks to the surrounding soil and surface water." One study using industry data found that that 11 million litres of contaminated water leak from tailings ponds every day, and that this number could quintuple within a decade if nothing changes.
3. Loss of wetlands and forests: Oil sands activity is projected to result in the clearing of 4,802 square kilometres of forests and wetlands - diminishing the land's ability to store and filter water. This area is equivalent to the combined size of Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa. Over 2,000 square kilometres of wetlands alone will be lost if the entire surface mineable area is exploited.
4. River flows: Projected increases in water diversions on the Athabasca River will further reduce river flows that have already decreased by as much as 30 percent since 1970. Climate change is predicted to account for further declines of up to 30 percent.
5. Groundwater: Both mining and in situ operations impact groundwater quantity and quality. In the mining areas, the drawdown cones (which result from withdrawing groundwater around the mine) overlap, and the effects can extend for kilometers. Between 15-25 percent of river channel flows in northeast Alberta are directly contributed by groundwater making these flows relevant to the management of surface waters.
6. Drinking Water: First Nations communities have identified water as a key area of interest due to concerns about water contamination, supply, and the potential impacts on their drinking water sources.
7. Acidification: Seventy percent of the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted by Alberta's oil sands operations are deposited in Saskatchewan creating possible acidification of lakes in that province.
8. Bird deaths: National attention to the killing of 1,600 birds on a Syncrude tailing pond in 2008 could be only a drop in the bucket. Estimates suggest actual bird deaths might range between 8,000 and 100,000 annually. There is considerable loss of migratory bird habitat due to wetland drainage in oil sands mining, and tailings ponds are a proven lethal danger to wildfowl. While the loss of 1,600 waterfowl at the Syncrude tailings pond in 2008 gained national media attention, it has been estimated that bird mortality from land and drowning in tailings ponds could range between 8,000 and 100,000 annually depending on mortality during "oiling events."

In total, the report identified 10 areas where the federal government has failed either to enforce or implement federal law or to exercise its constitutional authority. These areas include the failure to enforce water diversions, regulate toxic pollution, prosecute leaking tailing ponds, and implement legislation to reduce acid rain from oil sands operations.

To substantially increase its role in protecting human health and the environment regarding the oil sands industry's impact on fresh water resources, Watered Down recommends the federal government do the following:

• Establish enforceable standards under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act for key toxic substances created by oil sands activity.
• Lead a process to create a water-sharing agreement between itself and Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and Aboriginal governments.
• Establish strict, enforceable, and protective limits on water withdrawals
• Conduct a comprehensive peer-reviewed assessment of the health impacts industrial oil sands development has on First Nations and Metis communities.
• Require the completion of a comprehensive cumulative effects assessment and establish binding limits that protect the environment based on that assessment.
• Identify and protect the habitat of listed species at risk in the region affected by oil sands activity.
• Implement the Migratory Birds Act and prosecute bird deaths on tailings ponds.
• Assume the leadership responsibility for monitoring the environmental impacts of oil sands development.
• Institutionalize proactive measures requiring oil sands operators to pay for the environmental damage caused to water resources.
• Set and adopt absolute targets for greenhouse gas reductions.

Watered Down has been circulated to all federal political parties in Ottawa before the federal House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development meets to decide on new federal recommendations to regulate the impact of oil sands on freshwater resources

Sources

This is a partial listing of sources from Watered Down.

Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board. 2008. ERCB releases draft directive on oil sands tailings management and enforcement criteria, news release, June 26, (accessed September 16, 2009).

Bruce, James. 2005. Oil and water — Will they mix in a changing climate? The Athabasca River story, November. Based on a technical report to the World Wildlife Fund. 2006. Implications of a 2°C global temperature rise on Canada's water resources: Athabasca River and Great Lakes as case studies. Ottawa, ON: The Sage Centre.

Droitsch, Danielle, et al. 2009. Watered Down: Overcoming Federal Inaction on the Impact of Oil Sands development to Water Resources. Canmore, AB: Water Matters.

Government of Alberta. 2009. "Facts About Alberta's Oil Sands: The Resource," fact sheet. July Edmonton, AB: Government of Alberta. (accessed September 26, 2009).

Grant, Jennifer, Simon Dyer, and Dan Woynillowicz. 2009. Oil Sands Myths: Clearing the Air. Drayton Valley, AB: Pembina Institute.

Griffiths, Mary, Amy Taylor, and Dan Woynillowicz. 2006. Troubled Waters, Troubling Trends. Drayton Valley, AB: The Pembina Institute. (accessed September 16, 2009)

Gulley, J.R. 1980. Efficacy of Radar-activated On-demand System for Deterring Waterfowl from Oil Sands Tailings Ponds. Journal of Applied Ecology 43: 111-119.

Holyroyd, Peggy and Terra Simieritsch. 2009. Water That Binds Us: Transboundary Implications of Oil Sands Development. Drayton Valley, AB: Pembina Institute. (accessed September 15, 2009).

Peachey, Bruce. 2005. Strategic Needs for Energy Related Water Use Technologies: Water and the EnergyINet. EnergyINet 36. (accessed September 16, 2009).

Prebble, Peter, et al. 2009. Carbon Copy: Preventing Oil Sands Fever in Saskatchewan. Drayton Valley, AB: Pembina Institute, Saskatchewan Environmental Society, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. (accessed September 29, 2009).

Price, M. 2008. 11 Million Litres a Day: The Tar Sands Leaking Legacy. Toronto, ON: Environmental Defense. (accessed November 2009).

Wells, Jeff et al. 2008. Danger in the Nursery, Impacts on Birds of Tar Sands Oil Development in Canada's Boreal Forest. Washington D.C.: Natural Resources Defense Council, Boreal Songbird Initiative, and Pembina Institute.