This decommissioned ERA site remains active temporarily to support our final migration steps to https://ualberta.scholaris.ca, ERA's new home. All new collections and items, including Spring 2025 theses, are at that site. For assistance, please contact erahelp@ualberta.ca.
AOSERP Reports
The Alberta Oil Sands Environmental Research Program (AOSERP) ran from 1975 to 1985 and carried out surveys and research aimed at identifying the potential long-term impacts of oil sands development. The program focused on land, water, air and human systems and produced numerous reports. The program was managed by Alberta Environment.To view a list of available reports, please visit: http://www.osrin.ualberta.ca/Resources/DigitizedReports.aspx
TAKE NOTE: These reports are provided to give context and historical information. As they are old they may contain references to out-of-date legislation and policies. Readers should be cautious when using these materials and always refer to current legislation and policies.
Items in this Collection
-
1982
Yau, H., Timpany, P. L., Murphy, K. L.
The present and proposed industrial development associated with the Athabasca Oil Sands has resulted in a need to evaluate the Athabasca River transport and assimilation of contaminants and water occurring substances. Since the beginning of AOSERP in April 1975, water quality and quantity data...
-
Baseline states of organic constituents in the Athabasca river system upstream of Fort McMurray
Download1979
Investigations were carried out on the Athabasca River upstream of Fort McMurray to determine the baseline quantities of organic constituents and their contribution to the organic water quality of the river system as it continues through the Athabasca Oil Sands strip mining area. Results of these...
-
Ecological studies of the aquatic invertebrates of the Alberta Oil Sands Environmental Research Program study area, northeastern Alberta
Download1980
This project, which was a continuation of 1976-77 activities of AOSERP Project AF 2.0, \"Interim Report on Ecological Studies on the Benthic Invertebrates of Various Rivers in the Alberta Oil Sands Environmental Research Program Study Area, Northeastern Alberta\", was to describe the basic...
-
1979
Prior to 1975 information on surface water hydrology in the oil sands area was very limited. During 1975 and 1976 a number of hydrometric gauging stations were provided by AOSERP to bring the total number of stations in the area to 32. Measurements of standard water quality parameters began at...
-
Fisheries and aquatic habitat investigations in the Mackay river watershed of northeastern Alberta
Download1980
Bond, W. A., Orr, M. R., Rudy, D., Miller, D., Machniak, K.
The MacKay River basin is the largest basin on the west side of the Athabasca in the Athabasca Oil Sands region. The lower parts of this basin are part of the lease holding of Syncrude Canada Limited and this project was supported and partially funded by Syncrude. The general objective of this...
-
1980-01-01
During 1977, the second year of a two-year study, the fish populations of the Athabasca Rive: were investigated in two general areas downstream of Fort McMurray. Field work was carried out from mid-April to early November in the Mildred Lake study area and from mid-May to mid-October in the Delta...
-
Interim report on ecological studies on the benthic invertebrates of various rivers in the Alberta oil sands environmental research program study area, northeastern Alberta
Download1979
This report details preliminary experimental and survey research on benthic communities affected by selected hydrocarbons and tailings sludge produced by existing oil sands mining and upgrading operations. Taxonomic surveys of macrobenthic communities were carried out in the Muskeg and Steepbank...
-
Interim report on ecological studies on the lower trophic levels of muskeg rivers within the Alberta oil sands environmental research program study area
Download1979
This project (AF 2.0.2) was conducted in 1977-78 as a planned complement of another project (AF 2.0.1) on invertebrate resources. The scope of this project was to investigate productivity in the oil sands region and it involved both baseline data collection and manipulation experiments....
-
Interim report on the acidification of Lake 223, experimental lakes area: Background data, the first year of acidification (1976), and pilot experiments
Download1979
Wagemann, R., Hesslein, R. H., Schindler, D. W.
At the outset of AOSERP there was considerable concern that significant quantities of acid precipitation and heavy metals emanating from oil sands plants might adversely affect lakes near the oil sands area. Thus, the Aquatic Fauna Technical Research Committee initiated this project with the...
-
Inventory of water use requirements and effluent discharge characteristics related to oil sands development
Download1980
An inventory of historical data on water use requirements and effluent discharge characteristics related to oil sands developments has been collected and tabulated. The inventory data indicate that surface water bodies are the main sources of the water supply and main recipients of effluent. ...