1. Abstracts of Publications whilst at the National Water Research Institute (NWRI)
and WaterResearch Corp, Saskatoon, SK
1. Assessment of metals in bed and suspended sediments in tributaries of the Lower Athabasca
River.
J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng 2007 Jul;42(8):1021-8
F M Conly, R W Crosley, J V Headley, E K Quagraine
Environment Canada, National Hydrology Research Centre, Saskatoon, Canada. malcolm.conly@ec.gc.ca
Several oil sands mines and refineries are currently recovering oil from the Athabasca River region
near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Planning and construction of additional oil sands mines are in various
stages of completion. Due to environmental concerns for aquatic life in areas downstream from
current and future oil sands activities, surveys were conducted between 1998 and 2000 to determine
whether the quality of water and sediments in tributaries of the Athabasca River are affected by
flowing through reaches with exposure to natural oil sand deposits.
This paper presents the results for metals in bed and suspended sediments collected from the
Mackay, Steepbank, and Ells rivers during those surveys. The suspended sediments had a clay
content (n = 7) ranging from 36.2% to 65.0%, while bed sediments, which consisted of a
predominant sand fraction, had percent clay (n = 39) ranging from 0.0% to 38.1%. A Mann-Kendall
non-parametric analysis to assess the longitudinal trend of the metals in the bed sediments found no
significant (alpha = 0.05) downstream trend in the Mackay or Steepbank rivers; however, the Ells
River displayed a generally decreasing tend from upstream to downstream. The results provide no
indication that metal concentrations in the bed sediments and/or suspended sediments of the Mackay,
Steepbank, and Ells rivers increase significantly as the three tributaries flow through reaches that
have natural oil sand exposures (McMurray Formation).
2. Is biodegradation of bitumen a source of recalcitrant naphthenic acid mixtures in oil sands
tailing pond waters?
J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng 2005 ;40(3):671-84
E K Quagraine, J V Headley, H G Peterson
WateResearch Corp., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Carboxylic acids are transient metabolites during the mineralization of petroleum hydrocarbons.
Crude oils, however, vary in their proportion of the hydrocarbon components. Depending on
structure, some carboxylic acid metabolites resist further biodegradation and persist in aquatic
systems.
During the extraction of oil sands bitumen, recalcitrant carboxylic acid mixtures, collectively referred
to as naphthenic acids (NAs), are released into the wastewaters. These waters also contain
unrecovered bitumen from the oil sands. The unextracted bitumen is often overlooked as a possible
source of the petroleum acids. The present article discusses the literature data on the

2. biotransformation of hydrocarbons in bitumen from oil sands to the corresponding petroleum
carboxylic acids. Some insight is given on the mechanism of the biodegradation process. The
susceptibility to biodegradation is affected by differences in alicyclic carboxylic acids such as carbon
chain length, chain branching, and the oddness or evenness of carbon chain containing the carboxylic
group, positions where alkyl groups are substituted on the cyclic ring, geometrical isomerism, and
number of cyclic rings.
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3. In situ bioremediation of naphthenic acids contaminated tailing pond waters in the athabasca
oil sands region--demonstrated field studies and plausible options: a review.
J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng 2005 ;40(3):685-722
E K Quagraine, H G Peterson, J V Headley
WateResearch Corporation, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,Canada.
Currently, there are three industrial plants that recover oil from the lower Athabasca oil sands area,
and there are plans in the future for several additional mines. The extraction procedures produce
large volumes of slurry wastes contaminated with naphthenic acids (NAs). Because of a "zero
discharge" policy the oil sands companies do not release any extraction wastes from their leases.
The process-affected waters and fluid tailings contaminated with NAs are contained on-site primarily
in large settling ponds. These fluid wastes from the tailing ponds can be acutely and chronically toxic
to aquatic organisms, and NAs have been associated with this toxicity. The huge tailings containment
area must ultimately be reclaimed, and this is of major concern to the oil sands industry. Some
reclamation options have been investigated by both pioneering industries (Syncrude Energy Inc. and
Suncor Inc.) with mixed results. The bioremediation techniques have limited success to date in
biodegrading NAs to levels below 19 mg/L. Some tailing pond waters have been stored for more than
10 years, and it appears that the remaining high molecular weight NAs are refractory to the natural
biodegradation process in the ponds. Some plausible options to further degrade the NAs in the
tailings pond water include: bioaugmentation with bacteria selected to degrade the more refractory
classes of NAs; the use of attachment materials such as clays to concentrate both the NA and the NA-
degrading bacteria in their surfaces and/or pores; synergistic association between algae and bacteria
consortia to promote efficient aerobic degradation; and biostimulation with nutrients to promote the
growth and activity of the microorganisms.

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4. The characterization and distribution of inorganic chemicals in tributary waters of the lower
Athabasca river, Oilsands region, Canada.
J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng 2005 ;40(1):1-27
J V Headley, B Crosley, F M Conly, E K Quagraine
National Water Research Institute,Saskatoon, Canada.john.headley@ec.gc.ca
At present, there are two large industrial plants recovering oil from the lower Athabasca oil sands
area and there are plans for several more mines in the area. There are environmental concerns for
aquatic life in areas downstream of current and future oil sands activities. To assess and predict
potential impacts of industrial activities, it is important to separate impacts from those produced by
naturally occurring oil sands deposit.
Studies were therefore conducted to determine whether the water quality of tributaries to the
Athabasca River, which have not been impacted by anthropogenic activities, is affected by inorganic
constituents resulting from flowing through reaches with natural oilsands deposit. Three tributaries,
Steepbank River, Mackay River, and Ells River at upstream and downstream locations on each
stream were investigated during four surveys from 1998 to 2000. In addition to some physical
parameters such as pH, conductance and hardness and the major ions (calcium, magnesium, sodium,
potassium, bicarbonate, chloride, sulfate, and silicates), seventeen trace metals were investigated.
Some of these metals, especially iron and manganese, were of high concentrations and in some
instances, particularly in a survey conducted during the spring freshets in April 1999, exceeded
guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. The observed concentrations of metals seem to be of
natural origin and can be used as base-line data for future assessment of anthropogenic activities in
the oil sand region.
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