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Overview
In Alberta, and around the world, mining operations produce tailings. Alberta’s oil sands tailings ponds now contain over 1.4 billion cubic metres of liquid that is a mixture of water, sand, clay and residual bitumen and are a by-product of the extraction process. Oil sands operators are responsible for site management and reclamation, while ongoing research and technology innovation continues to inform and refine best practices.
In May 2024, Alberta established an Oil Sands Mine Water Steering Committee to assess options and provide recommendations to inform an accelerated plan for addressing oil sands mine water and tailings ponds, while protecting the health of downstream communities and the environment. For more than a year, the committee has met with industry operators, Indigenous community members, technology developers, governments, as well as academics and scientists, to review evidence and carefully consider recommendations for a path forward.
Committee information
Read about the committee members and mandate.
Timeline
- May 2024 – Oil Sands Mine Water Steering Committee formed
- May 2024 to May 2025 – Engagement
- June 12, 2025 – First 5 recommendations released
- September 5, 2025 – Remaining recommendations released
Letter from committee chair
Committee recommendations
The committee released its initial recommendations on June 12, 2025, and remaining recommendations on September 5, 2025. These recommendations reflect a year of rigorous and thoughtful analysis and engagement by the steering committee. Solutions were brought forward to the steering committee by technology developers, industry partners, Indigenous communities, and others.
The committee assessed and evaluated options against feasibility criteria, including policy and regulatory alignment, environmental impacts, Indigenous perspective, public perception, and economic feasibility and technology viability.
Recommendation summaries
- Recommendation 1 calls for more segregation and prioritization of use of water that has not been impacted by the industrial process, along with clear standards for that water’s safe release, to help reduce the future accumulation of oil sands mine water.
- Recommendation 2 advises government to promote more water-sharing between mine sites to minimize new withdrawals from the Athabasca River.
- Recommendation 3 advises government to focus on managing oil sands mine water within the watershed, not across watersheds.
- Recommendation 4 advises government that deep well disposal be considered to manage low volumes of otherwise untreatable oil sands mine water and some legacy mine water, once all other options have been fully explored. Deep well disposal involves the underground injection of oil sands mine water beneath many layers of impermeable rock, protecting drinking water sources.
- Recommendation 5 calls for a standardized method to be developed for measuring naphthenic acids, naturally occurring organics that are sourced from oil sands bitumen. Though no jurisdiction is known to have ever implemented such a method for regulatory purposes, being able to measure them is considered essential in assessing the effectiveness of mine water treatment options.
- Recommendation 6 advises government to work with the oil sands industry, technology providers and researchers to develop and conduct pilots on promising oil sands mine water treatment technologies.
- Recommendation 7 advises government to expedite establishing release standards for treated oil sands mine water, building on existing processes used for other industries while tailoring them to meet this specific challenge.
- Recommendation 8 advises government to establish criteria for end pit lakes at the individual and landscape levels, building on ongoing research and development.
- Recommendation 9 calls for more inclusive oil sands mine water monitoring to support implementing these recommendations, while enhancing the credibility, transparency and timeliness of result reporting.
Next steps
Alberta’s government accepts these recommendations and will immediately begin exploring them further to help create an accelerated plan to reclaim the water and eventually return the land for use by future generations.
The Alberta government will work with others to better understand these recommendations, carefully evaluate them and explore what would be needed to safely and realistically put them into action. Any approach for managing tailings ponds will be rooted in science and backed by clear research and evidence.
Alberta is committed to continue listening to Albertans and the people who brought forward solutions. The ongoing leadership and participation of Indigenous communities and others are vital to shaping how we manage oil sands mine water and tailings and protect the land and water for future generations.
More information will be shared as this important work continues.
Committee presentations
Over a period of 12 months, the steering committee reviewed all relevant research and engaged with communities, industry and governments to ensure that many perspectives and potential solutions were considered.
Multiple presentations and submissions made by technology developers, industry operators, Indigenous communities, governments and scientists were factored into the recommendations.
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