Keepers of the Water Expands Water Monitoring Program
Accurate information for Indigenous rights holders is needed in times of drought and questionable accountability by industry water licensees.
For immediate release: Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Treaty 8 Territory—The recent Alberta Auditor General’s Surface Water Management report highlighted the lack of water use data, which revealed a complete lack of verification of oil sands industry water use. This fact and other hard-to-access data motivated Keepers of the Water to begin their own water monitoring and data collection program, a crucial initiative in the face of these challenges.
Keepers of the Water began our water monitoring program two years ago, focusing on the Athabasca watershed. This program uses advanced instrumentation to collect data from over 25 sites, from the Jasper area to the Fort McKay area, a community surrounded by oil sand mining operations and leaking tailings ponds. On July 8th, 2024, this program was expanded to include another vital part of the watershed, the Lesser Slave Lake and some tributary rivers, a significant addition to our monitoring efforts.
Paul Belanger, Keepers of the Water Science Lead, says, “The Athabasca Watershed, particularly the Athabasca River, is undeniably the most contentious watershed in the province. The Athabasca River bears the brunt of the substantial water draws by the oil sands industry in the Fort McMurray area, serving as the source of over eighty percent of the freshwater used by the oil and gas industry in the entire province. This underscores the critical need for scrutiny of industry water use to comprehend the impact on this vital watershed and to better forecast the future state of the river.”
Two severe ecological impacts are an increasing concern to the Athabasca watershed: numerous years of increased bitumen extraction and processing in the Fort McMurray region and the ever-increasing impacts of climate change. Consequently, water use by industry is increasing, while waste fluids stored in tailings ponds are also increasing during reports of record-low water levels in northern lakes and streams.
The current data collected by Keepers of the Water reveal above-average river water temperatures throughout the summer months. This escalating temperature trend must be continuously monitored to predict when a potential collapse of aquatic life in our waterways might occur.
We have found that industry monitoring data related to pollution from self-reporting mining operations is challenging to access or simply unavailable, leaving the public with only incomplete information about the overall impacts of the oil sands mining industry on the environment and human health. Meanwhile, rising water temperatures and falling water levels threaten fish and all aquatic life.
About KEEPERS OF THE WATER (keepersofthewater.ca): Keepers of the Water are First Nations, Métis, Inuit, environmental groups, concerned citizens, and communities working together for the protection of water, air, land, and all living things within the Arctic Ocean Drainage Basin.
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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:
Paul Belanger, Keepers of the Water, science@keepersofthewater.ca
You can help support our water monitoring program by donating today!
The Athabasca River from the shoreline in Fort McKay First Nation. Suncor’s air pollution can be seen rising from behind the centre of the treeline.
Image by Tori Cress.