Mandate
The Water Innovation Planning Committee (WIPC):
- Directs Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund (AUPRF) resources to projects that address water issues related to upstream oil and natural gas development, excluding oil sands development;
- Defines and articulates key challenges for the energy sector across the water management spectrum, including water sourcing, storage, transport, treatment, recycling/reuse, and disposal;
- Identifies shared research needs and promotes collaboration between industry, government, regulators and academia;
- Solicits, reviews and selects project proposals, and provides technical oversight to successful projects; and
- Promotes knowledge transfer within and outside of the energy sector.
Priority water issues include:
- Safeguarding groundwater and surface water quantity;
- Avoidance of groundwater and surface water contamination;
- Enabling the use of alternative water sources to high-quality non-saline water;
- Assembling a body of credible water data; and
- Improving the operational business environment by generating efficiencies and cost savings in water management.
Within the context of the above priorities, WIPC champions projects in four key opportunity areas.
- Applied research – Focused research that promotes solutions to specific water management challenges, or supports existing regulatory change initiatives.
- Tool development – Development of innovative approaches that create operational efficiencies, support regulatory compliance, improve environmental performance, or inform decision-making.
- Data compilation/centralization – Improved utilization of existing water quantity and quality data to support data-driven decision-making, enable effective communication of industry performance, and inform evidence-based policy.
- Leveraged research and innovation – Leverage available funding by fostering research partnerships that advance shared water management objectives.
Focus
This committee champions research related to safeguarding groundwater and surface water quantity; avoidance of groundwater and surface water contamination; enabling the use of alternative water sources to high-quality non-saline water; assembling a body of credible water data; and improving the operational business environment by generating efficiencies and cost savings in water management.
2018 Water Public Policy Issues and Knowledge Gaps with Associated Projects
| Public Policy Issue | Associated Knowledge Gap(s) |
| Safeguarding groundwater and surface water quantity | Projects identified to address this knowledge gap |
| Avoidance of groundwater and surface water contamination during development of unconventional oil and gas resources in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. | Projects identified to address this knowledge gap |
| Assessment of alternative sources and handling of water for unconventional oil and gas development in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, considering the entire life cycle. | Projects identified to address this knowledge gap |
