Running out of Steam? Oil sands Development and Water Use in the Athabasca River Watershed: Science and Market Based Solutions
Paper
Dr. David Schindler and Dr. Vic Adamowicz
May 05, 2007
- English
Alberta's oil sands are not only the world's largest capital project but now represent 60 per cent of the world's investable oil reserves. But to produce one million barrels of oil a day, industry requires withdrawals of enough water from the Athabasca River to sustain a city of two million people every year. Despite some recycling, the majority of this water never returns to the river and is pumped into some of the world's largest man-made dykes containing toxic waste.
To address this issue, the University of Alberta's Environmental Research and Studies Centre (ERSC) and the Program on Water Issues (POWI) asked two of Canada's leading experts in the conservation of freshwater and natural capital, Dr. David Schindler and Dr. Vic Adamowicz, to assess the implications of current and planned water withdrawals from the Athabasca River and options for water management.
Dr. Schindler and Dr. Adamowicz suggest that the time for critical decision-making has arrived; that energy production and the fate of water resources are inexorably linked and that innovative alternatives to business as usual are still possible.