New Guidance on Applications Under the Water Conservation Policy for Upstream Oil and Gas Operations
Today we released Manual 025: Applications Under the Water Conservation Policy for Upstream Oil and Gas Operations. The purpose of this manual is to assist operators in applying for new water licences, licence renewals, and licence amendments pursuant to the Water Act and under the scope of the Water Conservation Policy for Upstream Oil and Gas Operations. It does not apply to temporary diversion licences. It replaces the Alberta Environment and Parks 2006 Water Conservation and Allocation Guideline for Oilfield Injection. This manual supplements existing guidance around standard Water Act licence applications and recycling expectations found in other documents, such as the following:
- The AER’s webpage on Water Act applications: Regulating Development > Project Application > Application Legislation > Water Act
- Alberta Environment Guide to Groundwater Authorization
- Surface Water Allocation Directive
- Directive for Water Licensing of Hydraulic Fracturing Projects – Area of Use Approach
- Administrative Guideline for Transfer of Water Allocations (and Agreements to Assign Water, and Licence Amendments)
- Directive 081: Water Disposal Limits and Reporting Requirements for Thermal In Situ Oil Sands Schemes
We have also released a mapping tool to help industry compare desired diversion locations against the water short, potentially water short, and locally constrained areas: https://extmapviewer.aer.ca/wcp/index.html. We will regularly update the online mapping tool.
A draft of this manual was released for public feedback on April 20, 2021 (see Bulletin 2021-15). A summary of the feedback, including our responses, is available on the manual’s webpage. For more information, see our website, www.aer.ca > Regulating Development > Rules and Directives > Manuals. If you have any questions about the new manual, please contact our Customer Contact Centre by phone at 1-855-297-8311 or by email at @email.