Foundry Spatial, Ltd.
July 2013
Executive Summary
The Integrated Assessment of Water Resources for Unconventional Oil and Gas Plays, West- Central Alberta Project is a multi-stakeholder project that is building a regional understanding of surface water, groundwater and deep saline water resources and disposal zone is a large portion of west-central Alberta. There are three main areas of focus for the project, surface water, non-saline and saline groundwater resources. The project is compiling existing data and research results, interpreting key factors controlling water availability, and integrating the results from surface to deep subsurface zones. This report summarizes activities completed and results from the first year of the project for the surface water and data integration components. First year deliverables for surface water include this report, regional analyses of several components of the water cycle and an extensive GIS database of foundational and related information. Integral data sets compiled as part of the project, and analysis results are also presented on the internet through the NOLA framework – a web-mapping tool available to partners for the duration of the project. NOLA also provides the key integrative functionality, presenting research results from the surface water, shallow groundwater and deep saline groundwater components in a cohesive framework that allows for direct comparison across the study area. Separate reports have been produced for the non-saline and saline groundwater components. While groundwater components are discussed on occasion within this report, the summary reports for the shallow, non-saline and deep saline groundwater components provide more detailed and complete information. The Project is a joint initiative of Petrel Robertson Consulting, Foundry Spatial, and Strategic West Energy, and is supported by the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Canadian Natural Resources, Cequence Energy, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Encana, Husky Energy, Shell and Talisman Energy.