| A new report says Alberta’s oil and gas industry is wasting too much fresh water in its operations throughout the province.
Mary Griffiths, one of the authors of the report from the Pembina Institute, an environmental think tank, says Alberta doesn’t have enough fresh water to give oil and gas companies the right to use it for oilfield injection – a practice that improves the production of many oil wells, but removes the water from the hydrogeologic cycle, making it unavailable for use by humans.
Griffiths says in some parts of the province, the oil and gas industry has been successful finding alternatives to using potable water when necessary – including saline water or methane, for example – but those measures should be expanded throughout the province.
"It shows it is possible for the industry to use alternatives," Griffiths says. "It’s not always possible… but we don’t know enough about our groundwater to keep using it (for oilfield injection)."
A University of Alberta professor recently warned that Alberta could face major conflicts between industries unless major freshwater management strategies are implemented, and Griffiths said the drought is exacerbating that problem.
Although agricultural irrigation continues to use most of Alberta’s fresh water, the report says the oil and gas industry is given a quarter of all allocations of groundwater. Although Griffiths acknowledged the industry normally doesn’t use all of its allocation, she says there isn’t enough data to know much groundwater removal is too much.
"There may not be an ecological consequences now… if only about half of that allocation is being used, but then if a company decides to use it all, then there may be ecological consequences," she says.
David Pryce, of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, says the oil and gas industry has greatly reduced its reliance on freshwater over the years, but sometimes there is no other option available.
"We’ve been conserving (freshwater) for a number of years because it makes business sense and, quite frankly, because of regulatory requirements," Pryce says. "Salt water isn’t always there or isn’t always compatible… but we’ll continue to work in the direction of conservation."
Both Pryce and Griffiths say the provincial government’s recently released draft water strategy is a step towards better freshwater management.
"We’ve been supportive of (the water strategy) review since day one," Pryce says.
Griffiths says she supports some of the ideas in the provincial water strategy, but says the government and the petroleum industry need to move more quickly.
"Water is a finite resource," Griffiths says. "We just can’t go on the way we’ve been." |
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