Quote:
Originally Posted by DFO
The OP's overview is decent enough. It's worth mentioning that the in-situ projects source deeper brackish water for the operations unlike the mines. They are also ramping up the recycling and moving towards reduced liquid discharge or even zero liquid discharge.
|
Well.. not all of the in-situ projects do (or can) source brackish water. The regulations are set up to get approval faster if you do, but sometimes the geology just doesn't allow for it.
Part of the soon to be released Lower Athabasca Regional Plan is rumoured to be a moratorium on building river water intakes for ANY in-situ project (despite it being easier to predict and control environmental impact through this route as compared to groudnwater withdrawal), so that trend about river water will continue indefinitely.
The recycling rates are also something being mandated by the government (unofficially for now). "Zero" liquid discharge doesn't recover 100% of the water from the process either, as the final step is allowing the blowdown waste to dry in the open air until its a solid and then is landfilled. No operation that used ZLD likes it, and a few have even uninstalled it because it caused so many headaches.
