Surface and Groundwater Management In the Oil Sands Industry
George Dixon, University of Waterloo
Water plays a central role in open pit mining of Canadian oil sands. Vast quantities of water from the Athabasca River are used and recycled for processes such as extracting bitumen (heavy, thick form of crude oil) from sand. Bitumen extraction and upgrading processes generate wastewater (known as process-affected water) that contains elevated levels of constituents that are toxic to aquatic organisms including: naphthenic acids (NAs), salts, polycyclic aromatic compounds, metals and others.
