Environment committee  We have researchers in the Canadian Water Network who are involved a bit more in those areas, but neither Dr. Dixon nor I are active in the in situ. As I recommended to Ms. Duncan, I think this is an area that obviously requires additional focus. I think the federal government ha

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  The volumes aren't known. The paper I'll give you is a modelling study that gives a number. Something in the order of 67 litres per second is what the modelling study presents. But that isn't “ground truthed” at all.

Environment committee  Could I add another area to that? I think the federal government's resources, as you've heard from Natural Resources Canada, were in a geological area. The aspect that we don't touch upon is the in situ producing areas. I think the survey has skills that could help the Alberta

Environment committee  I haven't. I don't know if Dr. Dixon has worked on the big picture of that.

Environment committee  At the moment, we're thinking there are two options. One is to encourage the biological degradation of the naphthenic acids. So that would be trying to determine under what conditions they will degrade—and there is some existing research in that area—and then trying to create tho

Environment committee  Probably in two years when a Ph.D. student finishes at Waterloo and a Ph.D. student finishes at the University of Alberta. We're looking at both biological and chemical remediation approaches.

Environment committee  My research hasn't really dealt with that part of reclamation.

Environment committee  Certainly we can give you a copy of the galley prints. They should be available right now. I can send it to the clerk, or however you wish.

Environment committee  There has been monitoring—aquatic chemistry monitoring and aquatic effects monitoring. The seepage that we've noted from Tar Island dike and Pond 1 on Suncor's land has been monitored for a number of years and reported to Alberta Environment. Whether that monitoring is of good qu

Environment committee  There are so few wells that the province could monitor in the oil sands area that I don't think this pertains to the oil sands.

Environment committee  Each plume is a bit unique. In fact, one plume is extending into an area that will be mined out, so it will be returned into the pond systems. Another area occurred at a pond that had a potential to impact surface water. The pond was reclaimed and that impact was eliminated, at l

Environment committee  If the companies are operating, there is some guarantee that they still have cashflow that can be directed to the reclamation. My sense, and I'm not an expert on reclamation, is that we're moving away from an immediate and sudden handover—it's mine today and yours tomorrow—to a v

Environment committee  Syncrude, I think, has made application, and one small area has been accepted. Suncor is advancing some to get accepted. But those have not been the troublesome areas of the ponds and other challenging areas. I'm not aware of any that have actually been demonstrated and handed ov

Environment committee  The movement of water, to a large extent, for groundwater at least, is controlled by the topography, so the shallow groundwater flow is, in large part, controlled by the topography. By engineering the topography, you have the opportunity to have some control, at least, over those