The problem with that is they could use it, but they would have to treat it first before they could use it, because the chemistry of the water affects bitumen recovery. For example, if the ions get too high or it becomes too salty, bitumen recovery goes down, so a lot of the resource is lost to the waste stream. If they were told to use more brackish water, they would have to treat it first to remove certain salts especially and also to reduce the salinity, depending on what the degree of salinity is. It just cannot be used as is.
