Business of H₂0

Turn on the tap in Calgary and you can fill a glass 2,000 times for just a loonie.

Yet very little of the water drawn in Alberta is actually used for drinking, showering or flushing toilets.

Industry and commercial activity account for more than half of the ground water drawn in the province, as well as 15 per cent of the surface water. In the North Saskatchewan River basin alone, 70 per cent of water used goes toward commercial and industrial purposes.

Oil and Water

Water is a necessity in Alberta’s oil and gas industry.

Of all the water allocated for use in the province, seven per cent is set aside for the industry.

The drilling rigs that are a common sight in the province use water to make a lubricant called “mud.” As well, refineries, upgrader plants and petrochemical plants all require water.

In northern Alberta, water is used to extract, treat and upgrade the heavy tar-like oil called bitumen found in the oilsands. Between two and 4˝ barrels of water are needed to produce one barrel of oil from the oilsands.

The Pembina Institute, a non-profit environmental think-tank, has called the trends in the oilsands “troubling,” warning that some parts of the province might one day have to choose between water and oil.

“Production of these reserves is expected to double within five to seven years and triple by 2020. Unless policies and practices change, this will create huge new demands for water,” reads a report released in May.

David Pryce, a vice-president for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in Western Canada, said the industry is recycling almost all the water it uses and tapping into deeper saline water, rather than potable water, whenever possible.

“We’re well into it. We’ve seen a reduction in the use of ground water in the last 10 years of somewhere around 50 per cent,” he said.

Bottling it up

While water might be cheap from the tap, Albertans are willing to pay more than a dollar for bottled water.

The Canadian Bottled Water Association reports that 186 million litres of water were bottled on the Prairies last year.

An industry heavyweight bottling water in Alberta is Coca-Cola. The province is also home to the second-oldest water company in the country, Nanton Water and Soda Ltd., founded in 1979.

When it comes to choosing bottled water over tap water, Health Canada says it is a matter of personal taste and preference and there is no evidence to support claims that bottled water is safer.

Other uses

Countless Alberta industries need water.

The province’s 275 golf courses need water to stay green. In northern Alberta, seven mills use high volumes of river water to create pulp. And the province also has 20 hydroelectricity dams, producing five per cent of Alberta’s electricity requirements.

Farming is the thirstiest industry in southern Alberta, with irrigation consuming 91 per cent of water drawn from the Bow River alone. (See Irrigation)

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