A lobby group for oil and gas companies is running TV ads in Alberta aimed at convincing viewers the industry doesn't use much of the province's water.

Water was chosen as the first issue in a series of commercials by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers because of misconceptions about how much is used in the industry, said spokesman David Pryce.

The oil and gas industry owns about seven per cent of the province's water licences, but uses only about half of that allotment.
(CBC News)

"We are trying to help people understand that, in a relative sense, we are not a big user of water in the province. But we are not shirking our responsibilities either," he said.

The industry owns about seven per cent of the province's water licences, but uses only about half of that allotment, Pryce said.

Pryce said the industry has been cutting back on water use for years.

"It has moved from somewhere on the order of five or six barrels of water to get a barrel of oil, to somewhere around two on an average basis," he said.

CAPP represents 150 companies in the industry. The organization's ads began airing on CTV this month and will run for a year.

Environmental group voices concerns

Mary Griffiths, a senior policy analyst with an Alberta-based environmental think-tank called the Pembina Institute, said the water used annually by the oil and gas industry is more than is used by the City of Calgary in a year.

She says that water is being left polluted. 

"We already have tailings ponds [areas of of mining waste] that cover 50 square kilometres of waste water contaminated with bitumen and toxic substances."

Griffiths is also concerned that as Alberta's oil industry continues to grow, it will use more water.