Industrial Expertise 

EPCOR understands that managing water use for industry can be a significant environmental and economic challenge.

EPCOR specializes in water and wastewater solutions that look beyond the immediate task. EPCOR’s water and wastewater experts focus on analyzing total water management processes, and consider ways to mitigate risks and maximize ongoing operational efficiency, including water reuse opportunities.

Oil Sands

EPCOR is providing potable water and domestic wastewater services to more than 6,000 Suncor Energy oil sands workers. EPCOR acquired the water and wastewater facilities under a sale lease-back agreement and a dedicated Fort McMurray team monitors and safeguards operations at Suncor’s Steepbank, Firebag, Borealis, Voyageur sites and some operations at the base camp.

Along with other innovations, the agreement includes the implementation of a multiple-barrier approach to wastewater management, designed to enhance overall environmental protection and improve operational standards. Over the long-term, the vision is to build a total water management solution for Suncor that focuses on maximizing water reuse and recycling through the integration of new technologies and waste minimization.

Reuse

At its Gold Bar wastewater treatment facility, EPCOR has a membrane filtration facility – the largest of its kind in Canada – that provides up to 15 million litres per day of high quality, membrane-treated municipal wastewater to the Suncor refinery via a 5.5 kilometer pipeline. Through this innovation Suncor Energy:

• Avoided having to withdraw additional fresh water from the North Saskatchewan river.
• Was able to secure a new and reliable source of water for its operation.
• Helped to protect the environment by reducing the total nutrient load in the river which can harm aquatic ecosystems.

Britannia Mine

The Government of British Columbia chose EPCOR to design, build and operate a water treatment facility at the Britannia Mine, an abandoned copper mine which has had a legacy of pollution into the ocean. Since operations began in 2005, the plant has removed 750,000 kg (1.5 million pounds) of heavy metal contaminants from the mine water, which once flowed untreated into Howe Sound. Despite the large-scale nature of the problem from decades of mining in the region, the facility has created some of the best environmental conditions in Howe Sound’s intertidal region in over 100 years.