Alberta's Oil Sands Sucking Up Volumes of Water
by Stacy Feldman - Mar 31st, 2008
The architects behind the Alberta oil sands project – the largest and dirtiest energy venture on Earth -- are in for a crude awakening. And fast. That’s because their prized $150 billion "black gold" enterprise is gulping up an unsustainable amount of water.
A whole river in fact.
The stats will surprise, courtesy of an excellent exposé in the Globe and Mail. But here’s the skinny.
Mining bitumen, the pasty, tar-like form of petroleum that's buried under Alberta's mud, is the key to converting oil sands into usable crude. And to excavate it requires a ton of water.
Right now, nearly every drop of water needed to unearth the bitumen comes from the Athabasca River and the aquifers that feed it. It's the third longest un-dammed river in North America and a vital water source for the Native communities that dwell in the area.
And it's at risk of drying up. Here's why.
The industry and government are chasing a goal of three million barrels per day of synthetic crude from the oil sands by 2015.
Mining just one barrel requires three to four barrels of fresh water. That means the oil sands are on track to suck up about nine to 12 million barrels of fresh water daily to sustain production, and in just seven years from now.
Quite a water footprint. A full year would require somewhere between 3 and 4.5 billion barrels of water drained, most of it forever.
Dangerous ambitions. Good thing current law dictates that the industry can only remove 3.2 billion barrels of fresh water each year at most, a way of protecting the drought-prone river from shrinking into oblivion.
That's already enough to supply two Calgary-sized cities. And while there are efforts underway to up the allotted amount to over 4.2 billion barrels, it’s a lost cause in the long run.
How come?
“[It] would not be sustainable because the Athabasca River does not have sufficient flows." The National Resources of Canada has said.
Climate change is a giant factor.
Winter and summer flows of the river have declined 30% since 1970, and could drop more than 60% by 2050.
All of which is creating an imbalance of supply and demand in Alberta, and the perfect storm for a water crisis.
And it gets worse. About 90 percent of the water withdrawn from the river is not returned. Instead, it ends up as toxic waste, called "tailings," that are in dirty ponds of pollution lining the river, and they’re threatening the health of the whole river basin.
Have a look at the results of one experiment:
Minnows dropped into the ponds die within 96 hours; unwary ducks get coated by surface oil and drown.
The solution? Lawsuits are expected to crop up to slow down the rapid development of the dirty fuel source. And some companies are working to curb water consumption.
But that's not enough. There's still only one common sense solution to stave off a water catastrophe. And that is to put the brakes on development, right now.
Simple: slow down. Easier said than done.
The oil sands have ballooned out of control. They're now a giant Empire from a Tub of Goo.
Not only is Canada banking on the oil sands to contribute a massive $1 trillion to its national GDP by 2020, but don't forget, it has the backing of a rather oil-hungry customer who would love to see #1 OPEC get knocked off its perch: America.
Source: Globe and Mail, "Liquid Asset"
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hey UNCLE B! I am in the
hey UNCLE B!
I am in the mining industry and we don't need you to support us, really, we'd be much off if you'd support other worthy causes with all the might of your intelligence.
also, you should tatoo "whatever is left behind will grow over time..." on yourself somewhere, it's probably the smartest thing i've ever heard.
OIL
MAYBE THE OIL IS UNDER A HIDDEN WATER CANAL OR BED. OIL IS VERY DEEP.
OIL
MAYBE THE WATER IS UNDER A HIDDEN WATER CANAL, BECAUSE OIL IS DEEP
I probably shouldn't bother replying to a troll, but...
Really? Uninhabitable? I believe the people of Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Montreal, Quebec, Fredericton, Halifax, and St John's might just think otherwise.
And Torontonians wonder why the rest of Canada hate them.
New Chinese Oil Customers!
Any part of Canada outside Southern Ontario is relatively uninhabitable. Let the northern lands go to the highest bidder! We can't eat the g*ddamn swamps, the land is frozen over three quarters of the year, the men who work in Fort McMurray save their money and retire to Newfound Land as fast as they can. Offer anyone living there a subsidy to move to a southern climate and they will jump at the chance! It takes very high wages to bribe a man to work in Northern Canada and it should. Many small mines are operated on a fly-in basis for that reason. Stop kidding yourselves, this land is a defense expense. We don't need it. Take the riches and leave. Whatever is left behind will grow over in time, just like the many mining camps that can't even be found anymore.
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