Water allocation to Alberta oil and gas producers up sharply in past 15 years

The amount of water Alberta allocates to its oil and gas industry has grown by more than 70 per cent since 2009, according to provincial data.

The Alberta Flow Estimation Tool for Ungauged Watersheds displays detailed information about current water licences.

Comparison of current allocation data with data from a 2010 Alberta Environment report shows that oil and gas now accounts for nearly 11 per cent of all water allocation, up from 6.2 per cent in 2009.

That increased share of the overall water picture is also reflected by a 72 per cent increase in the volume of water allocated — more than a billion cubic metres in 2024, up from 613 million cubic metres in 2009.

Allocations represent the total licensed volume, or legal maximum of water that can be taken, not the amount that is actually used.

According to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), the oil and gas sector used approximately 21 per cent of its water allocation in 2022, around 261 million cubic metres — 70 per cent of it for oilsands mining.

The fossil fuel industry in Alberta has improved its water use efficiency over the years. It also uses a relatively modest amount compared to other sectors such as municipal water use, and roughly 80 per cent of its water is recycled.

Yet the nature of the industry raises questions — how much of a precious resource should Alberta allocate to producing hydrocarbons, the primary driver of global warming and climate change?

The issue is even more acute during a drought, as one of the effects of climate change is increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events like droughts.

"The more oil we produce, the more greenhouse gas emissions we produce," said Tricia Stadnyk, an engineering professor and hydrology expert at the University of Calgary.

"None of that is good for the planet. None of that is good for climate change."

Of the total water allocated to the oil and gas sector, the vast majority, 74 per cent, is taken up by the oilsands.

Nine per cent is allocated to injection techniques used for secondary or tertiary oil recovery, and eight per cent is allocated to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.