Oil sands water management
Suncor is committed to the responsible use of water. Essential to our oil sands operations, we recognize that the water we use is borrowed from nature and we approach its stewardship with care and respect.
Our approach to water management is highly integrated and encompasses a broad range of best practices. It includes minimizing what we borrow from the environment, recycling water within our operations, and reusing and sharing water within and between sites.
Prudent water management also focuses on keeping clean water clean. Suncor carefully manages industrial runoff—precipitation (rain and snow) from relatively undisturbed areas of our sites such as muskeg or overburden dewatering and reclamation areas. This water is released to the environment through approved outfalls only after extensive water quality monitoring, and results are reported to the Alberta Energy Regulator.
Suncor’s water management involves collaboration with other oil sands operators, academic institutions, Indigenous communities and other stakeholders within the watershed.
Water use in our oil sands operations
Advancing water solutions to support reclamation
Treating and releasing industrial wastewater is a standard, highly-regulated practice across many industries in Canada, including in Alberta. However, industry-specific guidance and regulatory requirements for the treatment and release of oil sands mine water do not yet exist.
As a result, tailings and mine water have accumulated for decades, delaying reclamation across large areas of oil sands mine sites. Without approved treatment and release options, on-site water volumes will continue increasing even after mining ends, largely due to precipitation.
Alberta already has a strong regulatory framework governing the safe treatment and release of wastewater across multiple sectors, including chemical plants, coal mines, fertilizer manufacturing, gas plants, meat processing facilities, power plants, pulp and paper mills and refineries. A similarly rigorous approach can be applied to the oil sands.
Suncor has spent decades evaluating the effectiveness of commercially available, proven water treatment technologies. This includes a membrane filtration demonstration launched in 2025. Membrane filtration is widely used to treat industrial and municipal wastewater, including drinking water supplies. Our testing shows that this technology can be successfully applied to safely treat oil sands mine water.
This video explains how the process works:
Suncor recognizes that water, tailings and reclamation are important issues for Indigenous communities and other stakeholders. We are committed to collaboration and to demonstrating effectiveness as we advance solutions that protect water and support progressive reclamation, so that the land we operate on can be returned to nature.
To learn more about how the industry is approaching safely treating and releasing water, read this story from the Oil Sands Alliance.