Protecting Watersheds and Ecosystems

1
Protecting Watersheds and Ecosystems
Surface and Groundwater Management in the Oil
Sands Industry

• November 24, 2005
• Kananaskis Researcher Retreat

2
Overall Goal

• To develop tools/methodologies that contribute
  key outcomes to modeling hydrological, chemical
  and biological processes that control water
  quantity and quality in connected
  groundwater-surface water systems in the oil sand
  region.
• To establish effective communication of
  environmental health to risk managers to improve
  oil sands environmental risk assessments (ERA).

3
Research Team

• total 21 researchers (6 new researchers)
• broad range of disciplines (analytical chemistry,
  earth sciences and biological sciences)
• 7 universities (U of Waterloo, U of Alberta, U of
  Windsor, U of Guelph, U of British Columbia,
  Wilfrid Laurier University, McMaster University)
  in 3 provinces
• Environment Canada

4
Key Challenges/Goals

• Core Challenge 1 Improving integrated
  understanding of factors affecting water quality
  
• advanced analytical techniques
• uses of advances
• groundwater migration and fate of oil sands
  chemicals
• surface water toxicity
• Core Challenge 2 Developing Water Management
  Strategies for Local/Watershed
• evaluation of design for ditches, dykes and
  reclaimed landscapes
• source water quality and quantity

5
Relevant State-of-The-Research

• Determining the fate and effects of oil sands
  constituents is an exciting challenge as the
  quantity of oil sands process-affected water
  increases due to expansion and the quality varies
  due to site specific changes in
  operations/reclamation.
• To date CWN researchers have contributed
  new/advanced analytical and interpretational
  tools to understand processes that alter water
  quality and factors that effect various
  components of ecosystems.

6
Approach

• Develop advanced analytical techniques
• to improve understanding to fate processes
  (biodegradation, sorption) and determine
  causative agents responsible for toxicity
• Studies of oil sands constituents in groundwater
• examine migration and attenuation to determine
  groundwater vectors contribution to surface
  water quality and toxicity.
• Ecological studies
• community assessment of primary and secondary
  producers
• use of stable isotopes to examine degradation and
  energy pathways in reclaimed aquatic environments
  
• Toxicological studies
• determine possible modes of action and define
  effects for use in risk assessment

7
Stage of Research

• CWN studies (past 4 yr) have contributed to
• significant advancement in analytical chemistry
  of NAs
• improved understanding of the current migration
  and attenuation of process chemicals in
  groundwater
• identification of water quality issues for food
  web development and impacts of oil sands
  process-affected waters on both surface and
  ground water systems
• Expanded studies (current 2 yr) will contribute
• greater resolution of NA characterization using
  powerful analytical methods

8
Key Findings/Observations

• Analytical techniques
• HPLC method developed to quantify NAs
• new methods developed and extensively assessed
  (GC-MS) for use in characterizing NAs and
  assessing NA degradation
• development of statistical methods to relate
  differences in NA composition to degradation and
  toxicity
• development of alternate MS methods (electrospray
  ionization-mass spectrometry, ESI-MS)
• Current Research Expanded studies
• building on ESI-MS and other analytical methods,
  new methods are under develop to characterize NAs
  (liquid chromatography LC-field asymmetric
  waveform ion mobility FAIMS-MS/MS)

9
Key Findings/Observations

• Studies of oil sands constituents in groundwater
• confirmed process-affected groundwater outside of
  tailings pond containment structures
• examination of processes
• sorption of NAs was low
• in only 1 of 3 field investigations were NAs
  slightly transformed during migration
• groundwater microcosm studies confirm changes to
  NAs under aerobic but not anaerobic conditions
• established numerical models to evaluate the
  transport and fate of contaminants in groundwater
• detailed investigations indicate metals and
  ammonia as additional potentially harmful
  components in process affected groundwater
• Current Research
• continued study of flux of process-affected
  groundwater migrating under collection ditches at
  a tailings pond
• site specific examination of potential NA
  biotransformation

10
Key Findings/Observations

• Ecological Studies
• phytoplankton community assessments
• reflects differing NAs and salt exposure
  histories
• benthic invertebrate community assessments
• decreased taxon richness associated with oil
  sands process material
• Toxicological Studies
• toxicity of oil sands process-affected material
• disrupts the reproductive endocrine system in
  indigenous and model fish species
• interactive effects (NAs and salinity metals and
  oxidized PAHs)
• Current Research
• ecological studies using stable isotopes
• additional research to further understand
  impairment of reproductive endocrine system

11
Insights on Knowledge Transfer

• CWN Oil Sands Research Student Presentations
  (Jan. 2005, 14 student presentations) (next
  meeting Jan. 5 2006)
• identification of process-affected groundwater
  outside of containment structures lead to
  remediation by oil sands company
• Annual symposiums/meetings of the Canadian
  Oilsands Network for Research and Development
  (CONRAD)/Oilsands Environmental Research Network
  (OSERN)
• Oil sands session of the 32th Annual Aquatic
  Toxicity Workshop (October 2005, Waterloo, ON)
• Innovations
• new analytical methods
• improve interpretations of exposure/effects
  relationships
• development of cytotoxicity tests using protozoa
  (potential economic and social benefits)
• TIE approach to identity individual NAs as
  bioactive compounds

12
Opportunities

• Expanded collaborations
• CWN collaborations have led to the development of
  a research proposal to be submitted to NSERC
  Collaborative Research Development program.
• evaluating reclamation strategies in wetlands -
  effects of environmental stress on energy
  assimilation, allocation, transfer and export in
  wetland food webs
• Enhanced Networking
• increased potential for interactions between
  researchers, industry and government

13
Collaborative Interests

• Collaboration with the recently-formed Oil Sands
  Tailings Research Facility (OSTRF, U of Alberta,
  Dr. David Sego, Director) has been initiated.
• to address possible changes in tailings water
  chemistry as new extraction processes are
  developed
• Collaboration with CWN project, Integrated
  watershed model HydroSphere (Sudicky et al.)
• linkage important to integrating water and
  ecosystem studies in support of reclamation of
  oil sand mining facilities
• Relationships with UFZ, Germany (K. Schirmer, M.
  Schirmer and others) are ongoing.
• water impacts from large scale chemical industry
  and coal mining in Germany
• Collaboration between researchers from CWN and
  MITHE (Metals in the Holistic Environment)
  Network
• metal mixture bioaccumulation and toxicity