This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Sustainability
Water Management Benefits
CVW™: A Technology Supporting Safe Management of Oil Sands Mine Water and Progressive Remediation of Tailings
Oil sands mining operations face significant water management challenges. Tailings from these operations contain residual water, solvent, bitumen, critical minerals, and suspended solids. These materials are stored in large tailings ponds that become sources of environmental concerns through naphthenic acid contamination and water fouling. Oil sands tailings ponds are also a source of critical air contaminants including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and secondary organic aerosols (SOAs), naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), and pyrite. The oil sands tailings ponds are the largest area source of methane emissions in Canada.
Current Water Quality Challenges in the Oil Sands Region
Naphthenic acids are naturally found in crude oils, including oil sands bitumen. During extraction, ore is mixed with water and caustic soda, causing naphthenic acids to leach into the water. Once released into tailings ponds, these acids reside within the process affected water and have been shown to be toxic to fish and other organisms.
Currently, tailings pond water contains over 50 parts per million weight (ppmw) of naphthenic acids, which is at toxic concentrations for aquatic life. Industry-wide, tailings ponds contain approximately 1.8 billion cubic meters of tailings and oil sands mine water (OSMW).
Alberta’s Oil Sands Mine Water Steering Committee
The Oil Sands Mine Water Steering Committee (OSMWSC) was formed in 2024 by Minister Schulz and Alberta Environment and Protected Areas. The Committee has been tasked with assessing options for safe management of OSMW and reclamation of tailings ponds. CVW CleanTech was invited to speak to the Committee and has had significant engagement with the Committee to-date.
On June 12th, 2025 the OSMWSC released their initial set of five recommendations with more recommendations to come. CVW CleanTech has reviewed the Committee’s initial recommendations and is encouraged that our proprietary CVW™ technology will support many of the Committee’s recommendations including:
Indigenous Perspectives
The Crown-Indigenous Working Group (CIWG) was established to address water quality concerns in the oil sands region from the perspective of the local Indigenous communities. The CIWG is reviewing methods of improved management of OSMW to reduce the risk of continued tailings growth from operations and to allow for future reclamation of mine sites.
In November of 2023, the CIWG published its Assessment of Alternatives to Discharge of Oil Sands Mine Water in which they rank ten options to manage OSMW while posing the least risk to local communities and environment. The CVW™ technology ranks very favourably within two of the CIWG’s options:
Learn More About Our Evidence-Based Water Management Solutions
Access our comprehensive guide to better understand the water treatment benefits of the CVW™ technology.
Significant Freshwater Draw Savings Through CVW™
Industry, including the oil sands operators, use surface (lakes and rivers), ground water, and recycled water to service their operations. Much of the surface and ground water sources are the same sources used to supply provincial consumptive needs.
With industry-wide implementation, CVW™ can treat up to 84 million cubic meters of OSMW per year, reducing freshwater draw and cutting water-use intensity by over 15%.
Two Different Types of Tailings Exist
Froth Treatment Tailings (FTT): These tailings are generated while preparing bitumen froth for upgrading by treating it with solvent. FTT contains the highest concentration of challenging elements.
Extraction Tailings: These tailings are comprised primarily of water and coarse sands, are relatively benign compared to FTT, and represent the bulk of tailings volume.
How CVW™ Improves Water Quality
>85%
Bitumen recovery from FTT
>80%
Naphthenic acids avoided from deposition into tailings ponds
~95%
Reduction in suspended solids
>90%
Solvent recovery from FTT
By recovering hydrocarbons and the use of a highly efficient thickener, CVW™ is able to avoid the use of tailings ponds for FTT and deliver ready-to-reclaim solid depositions that comply with regulatory requirements including Directive 085.
Key Oil Sands Mine Water Management Benefits
Future Water Management
The OSMW is currently stored in vast tailings ponds with no practical pathway to return this water to the environment. By implementing the CVW™ technology, we can provide cleaner water and enable oil sands operators to reduce fresh water draw from the Athabasca River while making the existing tailings ponds more amenable to treatment.