‘Pre-release’ baselines for compounds of concern in lakes of the Peace-Athabasca Delta before treated oil sands process water is discharged to the Athabasca River.

Federal and provincial governments are expected to approve release of treated oil sands process water (OSPW) into the Athabasca River to mitigate overabundance of mine wastewater and enable mine reclamation and closure. Concern is growing about the potential for downstream impacts on aquatic ecosystems at the Peace-Athabasca Delta. This project will generate critical knowledge to determine whether concentrations of compounds of concern increase once treated OSPW enters the river. The research will determine pre-release baseline concentrations for key compound classes of concern (metals, total mercury, polycyclic aromatic compounds) from analysis of surface sediments collected in May 2023 from floodplain lakes before treated OSPW is released. The project takes advantage of rare widespread flooding since 2020 to determine pre-release concentrations in the rivers. The industrial partner and other stakeholders will employ the pre-release baselines to determine if and when discharge of treated OSPW begins to impact aquatic ecosystems in the delta.

Faculty Supervisor:

Roland Hall

Student:

Partner:

Oil Sands Alliance Inc.

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Environmental Science and Technology; Water; Oil and Gas

University:

University of Waterloo

Program: