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ALBERTA INNOVATES – ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT SOLUTIONS

Water Innovation Program

Water Innovation Program

12 stories about protecting and managing our most precious resourceMAY 2015

Water will be the crude oil of the 21st century. You can’t

deal with Alberta’s environmental issues – particularly around greenhouse gas emissions without considering water. If we can’t overcome water protection and water quality challenges, we will miss out on achieving Alberta’s vast potential.”

DR. ERIC NEWELL,

AI-EES CHAIR OF THE BOARD

“

NUMBER OF PROJECTS

SUPPORTED BY AREA

INVESTMENTS BY AREA

Healthy Aquatic Ecosystems

Watershed Management

Groundwater Management

Industrial Water Use

Urban and Rural Water Management

$8,944,000

$7,414,000

$11,056,000

$1,974,000

$11,289,000

17

247

11

13

Water Innovation Program: By the numbers

$8,944,000

$7,414,000

$11,056,000

$1,974,000

$11,289,000

The goals for Alberta’s Water for Life strategy may seem simple: provide Albertans with safe secure drinking water, protect healthy aquatic ecosystems, and ensure reliable quality water supplies for a sustainable economy. Achieving these goals – in an ever-changing time with greater demands on Alberta’s water system than ever before – will be no easy matter.

Prior to forming AI-EES five years ago, the Alberta Energy Research Institute was focused on the efficiency of water use in energy development. With the integration of the Alberta Water Research Institute, AI-EES broadened its mandate, taking a holistic approach to advance water resource research and innovation in watershed management, aquatic ecosystems, agriculture, municipal and industrial sectors.

I am incredibly proud of our Water Innovation Program staff who have built our robust research and innovation program spanning all sectors and interests. Our team is intimately engaged in each of our initiatives to ensure our partner-projects are successful. With the guidance of our Board, we carefully invest in projects and initiatives to safeguard our most precious resource far into the future.

Sincerely,

Eddy Isaacs, CEO

May 11, 2015

Message from the CEO

Table of Contents

1 Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions’ Water Innovation Program

2 Alberta’s water challenges

5 12 Water Stories

6 Predicting Alberta’s water future with a 50-year forecasting tool

8 Collaborative watershed management key to meeting long-term water needs

10 Aboriginal perspective on water offers insight into sacred relationships

12 Forest management and the effect on Alberta’s drinking water

14 An ecological approach to managing river flows

16 Investing in tools to better manage wetland reclamation

18 Developing a new and improved Irrigation Demand Model to support agricultural sector

20 New study outlines steps to overcome policy challenges for water allocation

22 Safeguarding drinking water in rural Alberta

24 Reducing fresh water use by in situ oil sands operations

26 Working toward the safe release of Oil Sands Process Affected Water (OSPW)

28 Ultra clean lab to measure heavy metals in oil sands region from natural and industrial sources

30 Building a clean water future

31 AI-EES Water Innovation Program resources

The goals for Alberta’s Water for Life strategy may

seem simple: provide Albertans with safe, secure drinking water, protect healthy aquatic ecosystems, and ensure reliable quality water supplies for a sustainable economy. Achieving these goals – in an ever-changing time with greater demands on Alberta’s water system than ever before – will be no easy matter.”

DR. EDDY ISAACS,

AI-EES CEO

“

Introduction Water Innovation Program 1

Alberta’s population is expected to double by 2050. We anticipate continued growth in Alberta’s resource economy and we are home to an agricultural system that provides some of the most productive crop yields in North America. Even with the progress made in water conservation, efficiency, and productivity, demand for water will continue to increase due to population growth, increased recreational use, and economic expansion. At the same time, climate change induced variability and resource development induced water contamination will impact the health of Alberta’s aquatic ecosystems.

Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions’ Water Innovation Program

Research and innovation can deliver solutions for Alberta to meet these challenges.

AI-EES’ Water Innovation Program (WIP) is a key mechanism to deliver on the Alberta Water Research and Innovation Strategy (AWRIS). WIP is an innovation hub where challenges are recognized, opportunities are identified, strategies are formulated, partnerships are formed, and solutions are developed. WIP will be a flagship program for the Government of Alberta in water innovation and a key tool to support the Water for Life strategy.

Government of Alberta releases Water for Life: A Strategy for Sustainability

Government of Alberta establishes Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Water Research

Government of Alberta responds to the Water for Life strategy by creating Alberta’s Water Research Strategy

Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Water Research transforms into the Alberta Water Research Institute with $30 million investment

Alberta Water Research Institute joins the Alberta Energy Research Institute and is renamed Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions (AI-EES)

AI-EES receives $15.2 million grant to continue innovative water research

Government of Alberta begins a series of stakeholder engagement conversations with Albertans on water management in the province

The 2006 Alberta Water Research Strategy is updated – Alberta’s Water Research and Innovation Strategy 2014: A Renewal.

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2 Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions

Alberta’s water challenges are unique

Ensuring the province has the quality and quantity of water, where and when it is needed will be at the heart of decision making for the Government of Alberta in order to support the desired quality of life, health of communities, families, our economy and the environment.

Water has always been a key underpinning of Alberta’s development. Alberta has a diverse and unique water landscape. There are few, if any other, places on the globe where so many of the important water challenges exist within a single political jurisdiction.

Population growth

Alberta’s population is expected to expand to over 6 million in 2040 from just over 4 million people today. The majority of new population growth will be concentrated in urban centres, particularly within the Edmonton-Calgary Corridor. An increased population will add additional pressures to existing and aging water and wastewater infrastructure, and place an increased demand on water supplies in the province. A major challenge will be in ensuring all Albertans have access to safe secure water supplies.

An expanding economy

Water is critical to the economic security of Alberta’s industries. A considerable portion of Alberta’s economy is directly dependent on water resources, including energy production, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. Industry will face several challenges, with increases in water demands and treatment requirements, coupled with declines in water availability. These challenges will make it difficult for Alberta to ensure it has reliable, quality water supplies for economic development.

Agricultural production

The demand for food globally will increase as the world’s population increases and economic growth and individual wealth shifts diets toward more meat and dairy, with higher water demands. Canada is one of very few countries that can expand its agricultural exports in a significant way, with Alberta being a major contributor in that production. This presents Alberta with a major economic opportunity, and a challenge in balancing increasing demands for water for agriculture.


Increased energy development

In 2014, both the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) predicted major growth in the oil sands industry. Conservative estimates of production increases from the 2013 level are roughly three million barrels per day by 2030. Accordingly, water use efficiency and productivity will have to double to keep total water use constant.

Increased expectations for environmental performance

There are increasing pressures both from Albertans and globally for improved measurement, accountability and environmental performance. As Alberta’s population and economy grow, a major challenge will be to ensure healthy aquatic ecosystems are maintained and restored where degradation has occurred in the past.

Climate change and variability

The impacts of climate change on Alberta’s water resources will be widespread. Increased glacier melt and decreasing snowpack, altered precipitation, runoff and groundwater recharge patterns, and increased incidences of extreme floods and droughts are likely. Six of the top ten costliest disasters in Canadian history have been droughts. The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) estimates that insurance companies pay more in claims for flood damages than for fire and theft. Adapting and building resiliency to both floods and droughts will continue to be an important challenge in this hydrologically dynamic province.

Photo credit: Southern Rockies Watershed Project


In the pages that follow, we describe how AI-EES’

investments in water have resulted in real, meaningful advancement in knowledge and innovation related to water. These 12 stories provide a snapshot of the work we are supporting to help the province deliver on its Water for Life strategy.


When you break it down, half of the province’s gross domestic product is predicated on water availability. Competing uses for water challenge our ability to meet equally important water sustainability and healthy ecosystem objectives.

Predicting Alberta’s Water Future is a large, collaborative project envisioned and organized by Dr. Alexander Zehnder, AI-EES’ Scientific Director of Water Resources. The project is managed by the University of Alberta’s Dr. Monireh Faramarzi and Dr. Greg Goss and follows from a previously funded project on the Dynamics of Alberta’s Water Resources (2010) also supported by AI-EES. The multidisciplinary team comprised of climate change and water modeling experts from the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge, Regina and Switzerland are combining their knowledge to develop a prediction of both water supply and demand for the next 50 years.

When considering water resources availability at a provincial scale, the data available is not great, says Dr. Greg Goss from the University of Alberta. We get water from snow and rain and there is substantial data available on this. There is also good information on stream flows, yet according to Goss, we need to better monitor our surface and groundwater flows to allow us to make accurate

projections. The effects of vegetation and wetlands on water supply as well as amounts of water naturally lost from available sources remains poorly understood.

“There are implications for planning. If you are a company siting your plant you need to ensure the water availability will be there for 100 or 150 years,” says Dr. Goss. “These are long term planning initiatives that need to understand our current water situation, but more importantly, our future water supplies.”

This project looks at our water resources across the entire province but with a fine scale resolution. This will provide managers in the government, industry and municipalities the tools to plan their resource infrastructure to be able to handle the challenges that they are going to face with an ever-changing environment. With projections of larger spring runoffs, reduced or even the elimination of glacier melts and longer and more frequent droughts with lower minimal flows in our rivers, the province will need these projections to properly manage our water resources.

Who gets the water and how this impacts Albertans will be a key question.

“Those are the decisions that have to be made, but they have to be made based on quality data. And if you don’t have the quality data, it’s just a guess,” adds Dr. Goss.

Predicting Alberta’s water future with a 50-year forecasting tool

Alberta relies on water like no other province. Agricultural sector water use accounts for two-thirds of the total water use in Alberta. However, Alberta’s agricultural products also account for one-third of Canada’s agricultural exports.

Stories Water Innovation Program 7

Predicting Alberta’s Water Future has led to the development of an advanced computer simulation model that can take into account many more databases and improve predictability. This work will support the planning efforts by

Alberta’s 11 watershed and Advisory Councils who need accurate projections to understand what may happen at the entire watershed scale as opposed to regional or sub-basin levels.

“When you look at individual rivers or at basins where industry may be placing themselves – where municipalities may be growing; and then you look at predicted growth of extraction processes or as agriculture moves north in response to climate change – these factors will all place stresses on the environment. So we will model a variety of scenarios and we model how these scenarios will change and this will allow us to move forward with more predictability,” says Dr. Goss.

The Government of Alberta has been developing a solid water management framework for a long time and Predicting Alberta’s Water Future is simply a part of that process.

“Water is one of the biggest issues Albertans think about. It’s part of the Canadian identity. We’re a water bearing nation that has a responsibility to protect water resources for the world. Being good stewards of such a volume of water is important.

“Secondly, there’s a number of very strong climate change researchers in the province and this project allows us to bring together some of those skills to advance our understanding. Alberta leads in doing research on the impacts of climate change and the needed mitigation strategies from a political, economic and environmental sense. I don’t think we, as a province, get the recognition for how much work is being funded by Alberta on potential climate change impacts, examining projections with scenario development and how we need to mitigate those effects,” adds Dr. Goss.

Through this project, we are working on protecting water resources for our future – this requires that we balance economic prosperity with environmental sustainability.

Written with files provided by Troy Media.

“Water is one of the biggest issues Albertans think about. It’s part of the Canadian identity. We’re a water bearing nation that has a responsibility to protect water resources for the world. Being good stewards of such a volume of water is important.”


The truth is, climate dictates our water availability and supply within a season and a given year and that supply is fundamental to our environmental, social and economic needs. Climate change and increased variability means that we have less certainty in a given season or year regarding water supply, at a time when demands continue to increase.

“We need to be thoughtful as we are growing as an economy and as a society,” says Megan Van Ham, Project Manager, WaterSMART. “We need to be more and more thoughtful about how we use that finite resource, how we share it amongst us, how we manage it, how we store it, how we leave it in the river, how we balance all those interests, so all of the interests in the province and geography are being met, especially given that we don’t control how much of this resource will be available to us.”

Since 2010, AI-EES has been working alongside WaterSMART who has been facilitating the three projects included in the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB) project.

• The first stage of this collaborative work led to the development of a mass balance river system model with specific performance measures for the Bow River sub-basin. These tools were then used to explore, test and

recommend changes in river management for the net benefit of environmental, social and economic interests.

• The model and work in understanding water management in the region was then extended to the Oldman and South Saskatchewan River sub-basins, through the SSRB Adaptation Project, which also introduced potential future climate variability and change into the discussion and analysis.

• The SSRB Water Project has now completed the same exercise in the Red Deer River sub-basin, and now is focusing on creating an integrated look at the entire SSRB and identifying potential opportunities for improving water management, and adapting to future water pressures from a growing population, increasing demands and a variable climate with potential for more frequent periods of drought and flooding.

Every stage of the work in the SSRB harnesses the expertise of the people in the region who know the basins best. Water managers from municipalities, reservoir and irrigation system experts, staff at Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development who understand each of the sub basins, and other key water experts come together and help to develop the tools for this project, and then use them to have data-driven discussions around understanding current water uses, upcoming threats to

Collaborative watershed management key to meeting long-term water needs

It is not uncommon to see news stories in the spring, focusing on how much water an area needs to save each year. Whether it is to protect Alberta farmer’s hay crops or California’s golf courses – the amount of snow remaining in the mountains is a common topic when it comes to water.


supply and demand and management strategies to build resilience in the SSRB.

“AI-EES and WaterSMART share the value of collaboration to solve water system challenges,” says Van Ham.

The latest SSRB Water Project builds on and integrates the existing data, tools, capacity and knowledge of water users and decision makers to improve understanding and explore how to manage for the range of potential impacts of climatic and environmental change throughout the SSRB’s river systems.

The model, which is a massive schematic showing all rivers and reservoirs, for the whole SSRB over about 80 years of history, is the tool the working group can use to identify and test how we manage water in the basin.

“They can use the tool to test new diversion structures, take a look at what happens if there’s more aggressive conservation required in seasons or sharing opportunities during drought,” says Van Ham. “They can see how implementing one strategy can change the entire water system.”

This innovative work brings together inter-related water issues to help stakeholders better understand the range of potential impacts and changes throughout the SSRB and identify adaptation options that can be implemented to best assure that these resources continue to meet Albertans’ environmental, social and economic needs.

“We’ve been keen to see this type of approach replicated,”

Participants in the SSRB collaborative watershed modelling work helped develop tools that can benefit river basin water management across the province:

• A publicly available water database

• River models and performance measures for testing and screening adaptation opportunities

• A novel methodology for developing streamflow forecasts that reflect plausible climate variability

• A collaborative process and network of resident water experts committed to working together to identify system-wide opportunities to build the resiliency of river systems in Alberta.

adds Van Ham. “It has to be customized to the basin, but the process is becoming tried and tested in Alberta.”

Every basin has its own stakeholder community through Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils and this early work presents a tremendous opportunity to look at other basins using the same process to identify and adapt to the climatic risks and environmental changes they are most concerned about.

“If we can start working today to identify ways to work through the difficult situations – challenging times of drought or flood – that most people anticipate will be coming, we will be far better able to navigate our way through those trying times because we’ll be prepared to deal with them rather than in a crisis,” she adds.


In 2010, AI-EES began working alongside Native Counseling Services of Alberta and the University of British Columbia on an innovative project to examine and share the unique relationship between Aboriginal people and water.

“The three-year project mapped core beliefs, knowledge, as well as the relationships and practices that indigenous communities have with water,” says Alexander Zehnder, AI-EES Scientific Director, Water Resources and project participant.

“The ultimate intent of this project was to provide an evidence-based bridge between traditional knowledge and modern science that would help communities across the province come to a common understanding about the role and value of this precious resource.”

The project set out to:

• Describe the Aboriginal People’s sacred relationship with water

• Articulate the Indigenous traditional knowledge of Aboriginal people

• Find common ground between Western science and Indigenous knowledge.

At the outset of this project, there was a high level of anticipation that engaging the Aboriginal community

within a traditional knowledge structure might go a long way to improving the understanding of the role of water within these communities and that this, in turn, could lead to improved connections between that knowledge and western science.

Over the course of the project, numerous teaching circles and interviews helped the research team analyze the elements of the sacred relationship to water. This led to the production of a documentary that aired publically in 2013, and can now be viewed at www.sacredrelationship.ca.

It was critical to the design of the research that the knowledge gained benefit existing and future generations within Aboriginal communities as well as the Alberta community at large. As a consequence, the research formed the basis of school curriculum for grades five through nine, with new teaching and in-classroom learning resources being shared.

“The website continues to be popular. Thousands of people have watched both the trailer and full documentary,” says Patti LaBoucane-Benson, lead researcher on the Sacred Relationship. “We receive positive feedback on the video every week. The message continues to resonate with Albertans, people from across Canada and internationally.”

Aboriginal perspective on water offers insight into sacred relationships

Not all AI-EES projects focus on technology. We know that improved understanding of critical water issues often leads to the development of more creative and sustainable solutions.


“We are still promoting the resources at numerous ATA [Alberta Teachers Association] conferences, as well as FNMI [First Nations, Metis and Inuit] teacher conferences,” she adds. As a

result, frequent requests for the teacher resources (lesson plans and videos) continue. “Teachers in British Columbia are also very interested and enthusiastic about the resources. This is truly the legacy of the project: engaging young people into this conversation about reconciling the sciences and working together to solve complex water issues.”

“The ultimate intent of this project was to provide an evidence-based bridge between traditional knowledge and modern science that would help communities across the province come to a common understanding about the role and value of this precious resource.”


From forest hydrologists studying water in headwater ecosystems to drinking water engineers working in our municipalities, collaboration is key to the protection of this vital resource. After all, drinking water for two out of three Albertans comes from our forests.

Over a decade ago, AI-EES (then the Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Water Research) recognized the potential of bringing together a diverse group of researchers to study integrated source water management and helped establish the Southern Rockies Watershed Project.

“This is one of the first true source-to-tap projects,” says Dr. Monica Emelko, Drinking Water Treatment Engineer and Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo. Emelko is one of the lead researchers working on the Southern Rockies Watershed Project.

“Having AI-EES involved speaks to their understanding of the transdisciplinary aspects of this project and need for such a diverse team to address this issue.”

The Southern Rockies Watershed Project provides collaborative research on both the ecological and economic outcomes of source water management strategies to sustain healthy, secure water resources for Albertans. The broad goals of the project are to:

• Develop a better understanding of connections between climatic, hydrological and ecological factors affecting water in headwater forests and their management

• Link this information with the condition of downstream water resources including implications for municipal water supplies and treatment requirements for drinking water.

The project is unique in that for the first time it brings together a team of water and natural resource scientists spanning headwaters hydrology, disturbance ecology, large basin-scale river processes, water treatment engineering, and natural resource sociology and economics to generate information needed for the protection and sustainable management of these critical water resources.

“Working with scientists from all areas of the water system was really a transformative experience for all of us,” explains Dr. Uldis Silins, Professor of Forest Hydrology and Watershed Management at the University of Alberta.

“We started to see linkages [from headwaters to river basins to downstream drinking water quality] in a clear quantitative way that we wouldn’t have otherwise seen working in our own little boxes.”

Forest management and the effect on Alberta’s drinking water

Water that is captured in Alberta’s mountains and streams flows down through a myriad of ecosystems as it makes its way to our taps. Understanding the links between forest management, at our headwaters, and water quality downstream is complex.


The first part of the project studied natural disturbances, such as extreme wild fires and their effects on downstream river basins and drinking water. The second part of the project builds on previous work and deals with human activities such as logging or harvesting. The research team hopes to better understand the environmental and economic trade-offs of natural disturbances and forest management to develop forest management practices that have positive impacts on downstream water supplies.

“The relationship between forest management practices such as harvesting to water treatability has never been studied in Alberta,” says Silins. “We’re looking at the big picture – hydrology, ecology, water quality – we want to know more about how forest management has implications and impacts downstream.”

“Sharing information and educating ourselves about the adaptability of science has been important,” says Emelko.

2014 Council of the Federation Excellence in Water Stewardship Award, which recognizes outstanding achievements, innovative practice and leadership in the area of water stewardship.

2014 Alberta Challenge Emerald Award for Water recognizes and rewards outstanding environmental initiatives undertaken by individuals, not-for-profit associations, large

and small corporations, community groups and governments from across Alberta.

Southern Rockies Watershed Project Team

The Southern Rockies Watershed Project is in its 10th year of watershed research and monitoring and focuses on climate, hydrology, limnology, disturbance ecology and stream ecosystem health and their links to drinking water. Their research activities span 80 square kilometres and 9 watersheds and represent the largest and longest running forest hydrology research projects in Alberta.

“There is a core research team. We spend a lot of time together and although we are all water researchers we don’t speak the same scientific language,” says Emelko.

“We spent many years throwing chalk brushes at each other,” jokes Silins. “Although we all work in water fields we must understand the nuances, and language of each researcher’s areas to solve these problems. It wasn’t until we started to really work together that those connections became obvious.”

“We are very fortunate in Canada to have an abundance of high quality water. Where we have healthy forests we have high quality supplies of water,” says Emelko. “We know if forests deteriorate, drinking water quality deteriorates. Understanding how to manage and protect our landscape is important for our most fundamental need for clean drinking water.”

The Southern Rockies Watershed Project has recently won two prestigious awards

Photo credit: Southern Rockies Watershed Project


An ecological approach to managing river flows

While we rely on rain and mountain snowmelt that flows down to the drier regions of the province, where most of us live and work, these vital water sources are dammed and diverted for domestic, irrigation and industrial use.

The amount of water in our rivers systems varies from season-to-season and year-to-year and requires careful management to ensure both the economic prosperity of

the province and the continued health of the environment. Healthy river systems ensure healthy communities and a prosperous economy for the future.

Dr. Stewart Rood, a professor at the University of Lethbridge, has been working with AI-EES to study Alberta’s river systems and create better ways to manage river flow.

“Our Functional Flow strategy is a response to the natural flow paradigm,” says Dr. Rood. “River systems need high flows or floods that provide natural disturbance and are important for the rejuvenation of fish populations and plant life along the river banks.

“We can take advantage of high water events to allow for the establishment of millions of new cottonwoods and willow seedlings in the spring, and through summer to benefit the fish,” explains Dr. Rood. “During these high water events there is abundant water for irrigation and other human uses, and thus no reduction in the economic objectives. It’s a win-win.”

Dr. Rood understands the fundamental need to withdraw water from our rivers. His work will develop better management strategies that will maintain healthier river systems overall while supporting our human and economic needs for water consumption.

Dr. Rood’s Functional Flows model builds on decades of work he has done to understand the natural and managed river flow regimes in Alberta.

“It’s important to understand how much water we need, how much will be available, and how to manage that,” says Dr. Rood. “It’s not just about the amount of water we take from the rivers but also about when we take it.”

Dr. Rood hopes this work will help improve the current provincial water conservation objectives that define the quantity and quality of water that must be left in the river systems.

He recognizes the success of the project relies on buy-in from stakeholders, which is why his team is working

As populations grow and industry expands, the demand on Alberta’s surface water continues to increase. Alberta accounts for only 2.2 per cent of Canada’s fresh water.

Dr. Rood hopes this work will help improve the current provincial water conservation objectives that define the quantity and quality of water that must be left in the river systems.


closely with the AI-EES, Alberta Government, the Alberta Conservation Association, the public Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils, and other stakeholders such as TransAlta.

“During low-flow years users need to share the shortage across the board,” says Dr. Rood. “The current water allocation system isn’t always effective during low-flow years.”

Large stakeholders, such as Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, have adopted Function Flows into their management framework. Dr. Rood explains that by understanding how much water the

Cottonwoods and willows are an important part of a healthy river ecosystem in Alberta. Their roots provide bank stability and prevent erosion while providing a buffer that helps clean surface and groundwater that seeps into the rivers. These shrubs and trees provide habitat for native birds and other animals, and the fallen leaves and woody debris provides important nutrients for native fish species.

rivers need to stay healthy, in both high and low flow years, we can preserve the ecological integrity of the rivers with minimal economic downside.

Working closely with stakeholders, Dr. Rood has been successful with the implementation of these flow regimes in the Oldman River sub-basin and working with AI-EES he is extending the implementation northward to the Red Deer and Bow Rivers.

Photo credit: Stuart Rood


The new provincial Wetland Policy, supported by this research, will take an innovative approach to how wetlands are valued and replaced when disturbed by industrial development.

Dr. Rebecca Rooney, Biologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, is co-leading a project to develop critical wetland assessment tools.

“What’s innovative is that for the first time we’re looking at wetland loss from a functional perspective,” explains Rooney. “Old wetland replacement policies have always been based on area, or no-net-loss, and have not considered the function or ecosystem services provided by the wetland.”

Rooney explains there are different kinds of wetlands that perform unique ecological functions and there are also wetlands that are higher quality than others. Assessment tools are an integral part of the management plan.

“Our research provides the ‘yard stick’ the government will need to measure the value of wetlands and implement the new policy,” she says. “In restoring wetlands, we want to mimic natural patterns at a landscape level.”

Rooney says working with AI-EES has been important for supporting the Alberta Water for Life Strategy.

“What gets measured gets managed,” says Rooney. “Tools that measure the health and integrity of wetlands

are needed for successful wetland reclamation by the oil sands industry as well as wetland restoration across the rest of the province. Maintaining the quality and quantity of wetlands will lead to both environmental conservation and sustainable economic growth in Alberta.”

Investing in tools to better manage wetland reclamation

AI-EES has teamed up with researchers at the University of Alberta and University of Waterloo to change the way we manage wetlands in Alberta.


A wetland is an area that is saturated with water long enough to promote formation of water altered soils, growth of water tolerant vegetation, and various kinds of biological activity that are adapted to wet environments. Alberta is home to an array of wetlands including bogs, fens, marshes, shallow open waters, and swamps.

Wetlands provide many ecological benefits:

• They provide flood mitigation by storing and slowly releasing large volumes of water

• They function as a natural purification system, cleaning surface water and improving water quality

• Some wetlands act as a conduit between above and below ground water tables, recharging local and regional groundwater aquifers

• They support a large array of biodiversity and are home to more than 600 species of plants and several hundred vertebrate species.

– Alberta Wetland Classification System

What is a wetland?


Developing a new and improved Irrigation Demand Model to support agricultural sector

Having accurate and up-to-date modelling to predict future demands for irrigation is essential to ensure our agricultural industry continues to thrive – especially since there is not enough rainfall and moisture to naturally sustain crops in southern Alberta.

In the early settlement of the province, it was recognized agriculture would not be successful without an assured supply of water to irrigate fields. The volume of water that supports

the province’s 13 irrigation districts equates to about 40 per cent of the total annual flow in the Alberta portion of the South Saskatchewan River Basin. The districts were organized to divert water from major tributaries such as the Bow River and the Oldman.

Jennifer Nitschelm, a manager with the Basin Water Management Branch of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, and her colleagues, have been working

with the Alberta Irrigation Projects Association and AI-EES to redevelop the existing and outdated model used to predict irrigation demand.

“The redevelopment of the Irrigation Demand Model will allow the irrigation sector in Alberta – cooperatively with provincial government and industry expertise – to better analyze water management opportunities, risks, and strategies for future irrigation needs in the province,” says Nitschelm.

“The new model will give us an increased ability to assess scenarios with various water infrastructure configurations, weather and climate impacts, demand forecasting, and improved outputs for use in complementary water management models,” she adds.

Ron McMullin, Executive Director of the Alberta Irrigation Projects Association notes that with the new and improved Irrigation Demand Model, irrigation districts will have improved information for future water management opportunities within their districts.

“These include assessing water savings from infrastructure improvements, adding more irrigation acres with water saved due to improved technology, or providing water for other uses in their regions, such as commercial, domestic, recreational, wildlife habitat, or environmental purposes,” McMullin notes.

Global demand for food produced in Alberta is on the rise, and irrigation is a fundamental method for improving the province’s agricultural productivity and crop diversity.

“The redevelopment of the Irrigation Demand Model will allow the irrigation sector in Alberta – cooperatively with provincial government and industry expertise – to better analyze water management opportunities, risks, and strategies for future irrigation needs in the province.”


A system for irrigation in southern Alberta was first developed early in the 20th century and was a key factor in the economic and social development of the region. The widely expanded and modernized irrigation system continues to be a significant part of the social fabric of southern Alberta. Over 50 crop types are now grown on approximately 560,000 ha (1. 4 million acres) of irrigated land and over 60 per cent of Canada’s fed cattle are produced in the region. In addition to thousands of irrigated farms, many communities, rural water cooperatives, food processors, market gardens, recreation areas, and wetlands rely on water supplied through the province’s 13 irrigation districts.

Photo credits: Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development


New study outlines steps to overcome policy challenges for water conservation and trading

Water scarcity is becoming an issue in southern Alberta. Our provincial population is now at 4.1 Million, a 22 per cent increase since 2005. Stats Canada estimates Alberta’s population could exceed 6 million by 2040. The environmental impacts from water extraction and climate change are already being seen in southern Alberta with 22 of 33 main rivers being rated as moderately impacted, five as heavily impacted, and three as degraded (Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development).

This is putting increasing pressure on our system of water allocation to support a balance between water for drinking, growing food, energy production, and protecting aquatic environments. As allocations reach the limit of water availability, basins can become closed to new licences for water extraction – this has already happened in the South Saskatchewan River Basin.

This is why the Alberta government has identified the need to re-allocate existing water allocations to meet future demand using voluntary water transfers between user groups. However, old water policies need updating to continue to protect the future of this resource and public support for change has been slow to emerge. Understanding Albertan’s attitudes and opinions on water management policies is essential for implementing any future changes in water management.

“Making do with what we have is a new study that looks at understanding the nature of the trade-offs involved in re-allocation of existing allotments,” says Jon Sweetman, Manager, Water Resources for AI-EES. “AI-EES has partnered with researchers at the University of Lethbridge led by Dr. Henning Bjornlund, to investigate what the

likely social and economic impacts will be in implementing possible changes to Alberta’s water allocation policies. Results from this work will inform policy recommendations that could affect re-allocations and Alberta’s ability to make do with what water is available.”

Economic models were combined with surveys conducted with residents in cities, towns and rural areas across the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB) to identify:

• Peoples’ policy preferences for water sharing

• How preferences vary across the SSRB depending on exposure to water restriction, resource dependence and environmental degradation as a result of the current levels of water extraction.

“The surveys covered households in Calgary, Lethbridge, Strathmore and four small irrigation towns outside Lethbridge, as well as individual irrigators, and focused on how location, socio-demographic characteristics such as age, income, education, employment, values and attitudes influence policy preferences.

“The research found that urban dwellers strongly support a key role of government and back necessary environmental


Water allocation is how the Government regulates water use. Currently, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD) uses its water policies and legislation to allocate and manage the quality and quantity of provincial water resources to ensure safe, secure drinking water, healthy aquatic ecosystems and reliable water supplies for the economy.

The Water Act guides AESRD’s work through the use of legislative tools such as approvals and licences, guidelines, and codes of practice. In addition, Alberta’s Water for Life strategy has provided the province’s overall water management roadmap since 2003.

A licensed user of water is authorized under the Water Act to

divert water from rivers, lakes and groundwater up to a maximum water allocation or right.

Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development

What is water allocation?

protection measures,” says Sweetman. “In contrast, irrigators endorse firm policies protecting the rights of existing license holders. The rural residents are somewhere in between these two poles,” he explains.

Irrigation activities account for about 75 per cent of existing surface water allocations in the SSRB, and irrigators prefer policies protective of existing rights. However, the study found that irrigators also support transfers of water and water markets when the purpose is clearly laid out, the price is right, water savings and efficiencies are obvious, there is a direct personal benefit, and the government is backing the proposal.

Overall, the study reveals that context and geography matter, and that policy solutions need to be context specific to ensure their acceptance within the target communities.

While no policy can be designed to satisfy all interests, it is important to be aware of the unique perspectives of different stakeholders. In doing so, their concerns can be acknowledged in the implementation phase of policy development and an effort can be made to best accommodate their concerns.


Dr. Chris Le, a professor at the University of Alberta, has been working with AI-EES to understand the chemical elements present in rural groundwater, the health risks, and options for rural water treatment. Dr. Le suggests one of the biggest concerns with groundwater wells is the natural occurrence of arsenic.

“It’s estimated that over 100 Million people worldwide are exposed to arsenic through the consumption of

groundwater that exceeds the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines,” says Dr. Le. “In Alberta, 23 per cent of people rely on groundwater from

wells as their source of drinking water, and most of these wells have never been tested for arsenic.”

Understanding the important role groundwater plays in our province is really important, according to Vicki Lightbown, AI-EES’ Manager, Water and Environmental Management.

“Through projects like this we hope to better understand possible threats to our groundwater and what steps may need to be taken, so that Albertans have access to sustainable sources of high quality water for years to come,” she adds.

Arsenic is a natural occurring chemical that exists in bedrock. The release of arsenic from bedrock can result in high levels of arsenic in well water. High levels of exposure to arsenic have been linked to increased health risks such as hypertension, diabetes and certain cancers.

Dr. Le and his team have developed a strategy to map out areas of concern, where arsenic may occur in groundwater – a strategy that will address drinking water safety in rural Alberta. Previous work completed by Dr. Le, and supported by AI-EES, included a survey of 600 groundwater wells across the province determining that 20 per cent of those samples contained levels of arsenic exceeding the WHO and Health Canada guidelines of 10 micrograms per litre. Dr. Le is also collaborating with Alberta Health to increase the public health awareness of arsenic in water.

“It’s not known how many people are at risk of being exposed to elevated arsenic in Alberta,” says Dr. Le. “It’s not known if this 20 per cent is a general number across the province or if it’s more limited to particular locations.”

Through the next phases of his work, and with support from AI-EES, Dr. Le will:• Determine the concentrations of arsenic in

representative rural Alberta wells• Understand hydrogeology and biogeochemical

parameters that would allow for future prediction of high and low arsenic concentration areas

Safeguarding drinking water in rural Alberta

In Alberta, 23 per cent of people rely on groundwater from wells as their source of drinking water, and most of these wells have never been tested for arsenic.

Many people take for granted that when they turn on their taps they will get clean, fresh water. Tap water in municipalities undergoes a wide range of tests to ensure it is safe to drink, yet 950,000 Albertans rely on well water that does not undergo routine testing.


Sources of water pollution in rural Alberta

Common sources of water pollution in rural Alberta are either naturally occurring such as microorganisms (from wildlife and soils), radionuclides (underlying rock), nitrates and nitrites (nitrogen compounds in soil), metals (underground rocks containing arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and selenium), fluoride; or from human activities such as bacteria from human and animal wastes – septic tanks and large farms, fertilizers and pesticides, industrial products and wastes, as well as household wastes.

• Compare efficacy of various technologies for removing arsenic from well water

• Assess human exposure to arsenic • Contribute to understanding of health effects from

exposure to relatively low concentrations of arsenic.

This collaboration has led to greater provincial expertise and understanding of groundwater contamination. Not only does this project fill the knowledge gaps and provide options that will lead to safer drinking water for all Albertans, but it has put Alberta on the map as world leaders for studying, understanding and developing strategies to reduce the exposure to arsenic in groundwater.


“The in situ side of the business is an interesting one because 40 years ago – when Imperial first started CSS [cyclic steam stimulation] – no one was working in this area,” says John Brogly, Director, Water EPA, COSIA.

Imperial started piloting produced water recycling in 1975 at its Cold Lake Operation and incorporated the technology into commercial operations in 1985. Prior to 1985, approximately 3.5 barrels of fresh water was used for every barrel of bitumen produced. By 2011 this was down to only 0.32 barrels of make-up water for every barrel of bitumen they produce.

“In situ production has rapidly caught up with mining production. By 2022, in situ production capacity is expected to double,” adds Brogly.

Current water processing in these in situ facilities is very effective, and in general, allows for recycling of more than 90 per cent of the water, according to Vicki Lightbown, AI-EES Project Manager. However, she says this recycle rate comes with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and high operating costs.

“Right now, working with industry, AI-EES is promoting three pre-commercial-scale pilot projects and one commercial-scale pilot testing novel technologies that

have the potential to replace one or more steps in the current SAGD water treatment process,” says Lightbown. “If viable, the technologies could significantly reduce the GHG footprint of bitumen extraction while maintaining

high water recycle rates and lowering cost.”

AI-EES is taking a portfolio approach, supporting development

of membrane, thermal, and flotation based technologies.

The members of COSIA are keenly aware that it’s important to improve their environmental performance and they are focused on several areas including both water use and water quality, according to Brogly.

“Most members have been working on that for years because they know it’s important,” he adds.

COSIA has set the performance goal to see another 50 per cent reduction in fresh water use intensity to accelerate the next wave of technology innovation.

Reducing fresh water use by in situ oil sands operations

Fresh water use is one of the greatest environmental concerns facing the oil sands industry. Traditional mining requires approximately 3.1 barrels of make-up water for every barrel of bitumen produced, whereas in situ operations use 0.4 barrels of make-up water to produce a barrel of bitumen. Innovation in thermal in situ has led to a 50 per cent reduction in water intensity in the last 10 years and industry experts are predicting another 50 per cent decline from today’s value by 2022.

Current water processing in these in situ Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) facilities is very effective, and in general, allows for recycling of more than 90 per cent of the water.


The challenge – the major reductions in usage have already occurred – says Brogly.

“Freshwater intensity has dropped dramatically. Further change will require collaboration.”

AI-EES is involved in three ongoing pilots with COSIA members and other oil sands companies. All pilots are aimed at reducing water use intensity, GHG intensity and capital and operating costs at the same time.

Because of innovation in this industry and the fact it is still relatively new, all operators are learning about the same environmental challenges at the same time. Through collaboration, operators are learning from one another and benefiting from shared experiences.

In Alberta, 80 per cent or roughly 135 billion barrels of the oil sands, are buried deep below the surface and are not accessible by open pit mining [Alberta Energy, 2013]. These deep resources are commonly recovered using thermal in situ

production methods, such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS). In both processes, steam is injected into the reservoir to get the bitumen to flow. The majority of the injected steam condenses and returns to the

surface with the produced bitumen. The bitumen and water is then separated and the water is recycled.

New technologies resulting from AI-EES’ leadership in SAGD water efficiency

• Development of a High Efficiency Mechanical Vapor Compression (MVC) Evaporator for SAGD Applications (IDE)

• RJOS High Pressure De-Oiling of SAGD Produced Water (RJ Oil Sands)

• Water Reuse and Management of SAGD Processed Waters (GE).

So far, this AI-EES program has led to new technology development such as a high efficiency evaporator, high temperature and pressure de-oiling, and a better understanding of the trade-offs between water use and GHG emissions. Technologies that show the most promise for the next phase of research include blowdown boilers and rifle-tube technologies – both of which can simultaneously reduce water use intensity, GHG intensity and waste water (blow down water) volume while at the same time reducing capital and operating costs.

What’s the difference between mining and in situ production?


A dedicated team of approximately 30 researchers at the University of Alberta, working under the supervision of the Senior Industrial Research Chair, Oil Sands Tailings Water Treatment, Dr. Mohamed Gamal El-Din, is 100 per cent focused on solving this challenge. The Chair is funded by AI-EES in partnership with the federal and provincial government and industry – those companies who have the most to gain from these technological advancements.

Initiated in July, 2011 the purpose of this program – the remediation of OSPW – is developing and assessing water treatment strategies that will lead to the safe recycle, reuse and/or return of this water to our natural environment. With the right strategies, the OSPW can be remediated to ensure safe release to the environment with no negative impact on the aquatic environment and public health.

The greatest benefit of a program like this is the long-term environmental sustainability of oil sands operations. Today, tailings ponds are a lightning rod for those opposed to oil sands development as they have a significant impact on the landscape.

“Finding the right technologies to treat the OSPW is one challenge, the other involves increasing the overall water efficiency of oil sands operations,” says Rick Nelson, Senior Director for Oil Sands Tailings at AI-EES.

“The hardest part of this task is finding the right way to treat the tailings water,” says Dr. Gamal El-Din.

A large variety of treatments are being studied with the goal of identifying the technologies that will be most economical and efficient. Among the treatment processes being assessed are:

Working toward the safe release of Oil Sands Process Affected Water (OSPW)

In 2013 the surface area of the oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) was 88 square kilometres. This footprint is associated with 975 million cubic metres of mature fine tailings – enough to fill the equivalent of 390,000 Olympic swimming pools. The trouble is, you wouldn’t want to swim in a pool filled with OSPW, but you may be able to one day soon.

Between three and four barrels of fresh make-up water are required to produce each barrel of bitumen using mining techniques.

In 2013, the surface area of exposed oil sands process affected water

was 88 km2; associated with this footprint was 975 million m3 of mature fine tailings which when treated, release additional OSPW. The footprint and volume are anticipated to grow until new

technologies are implemented to more rapidly make fine tailings ready for reclamation.

How much OSPW is there in Alberta?


1. Coagulation-flocculationfollowedbysedimentation: a treatment approach to maximize the removal of inorganic and organic compounds from the OSPW

2. Ozonation: breaks organic molecules into smaller, more oxidizable and biodegradable compounds

3. Adsorption: a process that could lead to the adsorption of naphthenic acids, among other organic and inorganic compounds

4. Membranefiltrationwithcoagulation-flocculation: a process using coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation as a pretreatment or sometimes with minimal or no pretreatment to optimize the performance of polymeric and ceramic membranes to create a physical barrier between the contaminants of feed water and treated water

5. Biologicalprocesses:to biologicaly degrade naphthenic acids among other organic compounds.

Once the technologies have been proven, Dr. Gamal El-Din points out the safe release of OSPW to rivers and even lakes used for recreational purposes may be a viable option in the longer term.

Industrial Research Chair supporters

• NSERC

• AI-EES

• Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development

• Syncrude

• Suncor

• Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

• Shell Canada

• EPCOR

• BioLargo Inc.

Oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) refers to the water that has been in contact with oil sands or released from tailings deposits and is primarily used for bitumen extraction.

What is Oil sands process-affected water?


Dr. William Shotyk, the Bocock Chair in Agriculture and Environment, is seizing the opportunity provided by the lab and its equipment to take a fresh look at heavy metal pollution in the area with a view to determining what is occurring naturally and what is occurring as part of the industrial activity of the oil sands.

The research involves a collaboration with Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions (AI-EES) and is supported by Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance.

“We’re really excited about this research,” says AI-EES CEO, Dr. Eddy Isaacs. “For the first time, we’ll be able to see the impacts of Alberta’s industry in the context of the natural environment and in comparison with other industrial developments from around the globe. Dr. Shotyk will be benchmarking oil sands air emissions with field data from other parts of the world.”

The lab is equipped with precision instrumentation, including two mass spectrometers that can detect trace metals down to parts per trillion, and parts per quadrillion. One part per quadrillion is comparable to

one single raindrop in the volume of Lake Huron, one of the five Great Lakes of North America. The lab will be the only lab in western Canada and one of only two in Canada able to measure heavy metals in aquatic nanoparticles, which are 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Shotyk, who is a world-renowned expert in soil and metals in environment, leads the lab and its team,

whose work has already yielded results. Indeed, after examining moss from 21 different peat bogs around the oil sands area, near open pit mines and processing facilities, Shotyk found that atmospheric

lead pollution is insignificant, with lead concentrations far lower than those found in surface layers of peat cores collected in recent years from bogs ranging from British Columbia to New Brunswick.

Ultra clean lab to measure heavy metals in oil sands region from natural and industrial sources

U of A lab’s equipment will provide ability to measure with incredible precision, unique in western Canada

A new $4.7 million ultra clean lab at the University of Alberta is providing scientists with the ability to detect heavy metal pollution in the oil sands region like never before.

For the first time, we’ll be able to see the impacts of Alberta’s industry in the context of the natural environment and in comparison with other industrial developments from around the globe.


More recently, Shotyk and his team sampled water from 12 locations along a 125-km section of the Athabasca River starting at Fort McMurray and heading downstream. They found lead levels were lower than in one of the most remote lakes in Algonquin Park in Ontario, and five to ten times lower than recently reported for bottled water in glass.

In addition to his studies of air and water, Shotyk plans to look at the cumulative impacts of dust and metals to plants and soil in the region.

Written with files provided by the University of Alberta.

photo credits: William Shotyk


Supporting innovation in water will continue to be a top priority for AI-EES. AI-EES maximizes its investments by working with the Canadian and international research community, as well as with pan-Alberta, pan-sectorial academic, government and industry partners.

Building a holistic research and innovation knowledge system will be a critical solution for the province to achieve the goals of Alberta’s Water for Life strategy. Through this program, we will further demonstrate our capacity as a global leader in areas relevant to Alberta’s citizens, its neighbours, natural ecosystems and its industries. The Water Innovation Program will be a key mechanism to deliver the knowledge and research needs for water identified in Alberta’s Water Research and Innovation Strategy 2014: a Renewal.

Water Innovation Program is focused on four themes

FUTURE WATER SUPPLY AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT We have finite water resources and impacts on this resource need to be understood on an integrated catchment scale.

HEALTHY AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS Research in this area will help ensure our freshwater environments sustain their ecological structure, processes, functions, and resilience within the range of natural variability.

WATER USE CONSERVATION, EFFICIENCY, AND PRODUCTIVITY Work in this area is concentrated on reducing our water demands and ensuring water availability into the future.

WATER QUALITY PROTECTION This research area centres on safeguarding our water supplies and addressing water security into the future.

Building a clean water future

Al-EES’ Water Innovation Program builds on the legacy of investment in leading-edge water research started by the Alberta Water Research Institute.


Dr. John Zhou, PhD

Chief Technical Officer and Executive Director for Water and Environmental Management

ResponsibilityinWIP:Strategic planning and program management

Dr. Brett Purdy, PhD

Senior Director, Integrated Land Management

ResponsibilityinWIP:Source water protection, watershed management and wetlands

Dr. Jon Sweetman, PhD

Manager of Water Resources

ResponsibilityinWIP: Aquatic ecosystems, watershed management and groundwater quality

Dr. Alexander (Sascha) Zehnder, PhD

Scientific Director of Water Resources

ResponsibilityinWIP:Scientific oversight and international collaboration

Rick Nelson, M.Sc.

Senior Director, Oil Sands Tailings

ResponsibilityinWIP: Mine water treatment and end pit lakes

Vicki Lightbown, P.Eng.

Manager, Water and Environmental Management

ResponsibilityinWIP:Municipal and industrial water treatment, and groundwater quality

Dianne White

Program Officer, Water and Environmental Management

ResponsibilityinWIP: Program support

AI-EES Water Innovation Program resources

Resources Water Innovation Program 31

32 Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment SolutionsPrinted in Alberta on recycled paper.

Suite 2540, 801 6th Ave SW Calgary, AB T2P 3W2 Tel: 403.297.7089 www.ai-ees.caFollowus@ai_ees

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