Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Understanding ‘water’
- Part II Water resources planning and management
- Part III Water resources planning and management: case studies
- III. 1 Water and waste water treatment
- III. 2 Agricultural water use
- III. 3 Urban water supply and management
- III. 4 Aquatic ecosystems
- III. 5 Industrial and mining water use
- 26 Water issues in Canada's tar sands
- 27 Science, governance and environmental impacts of mines in developing countries: lessons from Ok Tedi in Papua New Guinea
- III. 6 Rural and remote communities
- III. 7 Water infrastructure design and operation
- III. 8 Managing water across borders
- III. 9 Market mechanisms in water management
- Contributors
- Index
- References
26 - Water issues in Canada's tar sands
from III. 5 - Industrial and mining water use
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Understanding ‘water’
- Part II Water resources planning and management
- Part III Water resources planning and management: case studies
- III. 1 Water and waste water treatment
- III. 2 Agricultural water use
- III. 3 Urban water supply and management
- III. 4 Aquatic ecosystems
- III. 5 Industrial and mining water use
- 26 Water issues in Canada's tar sands
- 27 Science, governance and environmental impacts of mines in developing countries: lessons from Ok Tedi in Papua New Guinea
- III. 6 Rural and remote communities
- III. 7 Water infrastructure design and operation
- III. 8 Managing water across borders
- III. 9 Market mechanisms in water management
- Contributors
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
The world's demand for fossil fuels and the concurrent depletion of conventional sweet, light crude oil and natural gas have created a growing market for unconventional energy sources such as coal-bed methane, heavy oil, and bitumen. Exploitation of bitumen resources in Canada carries high environmental and social costs. The National Energy Board (2004) concluded that the principal threat posed by tailings ponds – the migration of pollutants to groundwater, soil, and surface water – is daunting. In a recent update, this concern had inexplicably been deleted (National Energy Board, 2006). Industrial water removals from the lower Athabasca River are similarly a cause for concern, especially in light of a decades-long trend of declining discharge.
The Athabasca tar sands industrial footprint as of spring 2008 was 65 040 ha, composed of 12 058 ha of tailings ponds and 52 982 ha of pits, facilities, and infrastructure. By proportion of the footprint, the largest losses have been to coniferous forest (36.0%) and deciduous forest (24.6%). Between 1992 and 2008, the extent of tailings ponds grew by 422%, while the extent of mine pits, facilities, and infrastructure grew by 383% (Timoney and Lee, 2009). As of spring 2008, the areal extent of tailings ponds exceeded that of natural water bodies (8613 ha) by 40% in the Athabasca tar sands region.
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- Water Resources Planning and Management , pp. 563 - 582Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011