In fact, there are several problems.
I would first like to talk about the availability of drinking water, surface water that is recovered. We have not yet discussed it, but there are two types of recovery. One is in situ recovery and the other is open-pit mining. The latter requires a lot more water than in situ recovery, but in situ recovery uses a lot more natural gas. There are availability problems in both cases.
I would now like to discuss surface water. Consider the Athabasca River, for example. Only 90% of the water is recycled and 10% of the water is returned to the river. To produce one barrel of oil, two to five barrels of water are needed, which would all come from the river. That is a lot. In fact, I read that, in one year, they pumped in twice as much water as the population of Calgary needs to live in the same timeframe. Considering the fact that this is going to increase, double even, in the coming years, we must ask ourselves some serious questions.
Indeed, we have seen the water level of the Athabasca River go down and droughts have already occurred on the delta. I know that they are supposed to conduct studies on the minimum level to maintain a viable ecosystem. It might already be too late.
There is also the question of the glaciers. The river is fed by the glaciers, which are in the process of melting. How much longer can we maintain this rate? These are serious questions that we must ask ourselves.