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Third Apache Pipeline Leak Releases Additional 1.8 Million Litres of Produced Water in Northern Alberta

A third leak recently discovered on Apache Canada’s property near Zama City in northwestern Alberta has released an estimated 1.8 million litres of wastewater onto 5 hectares of land, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER).

The spill was discovered on Friday, October 25th after an operator investigated a volume discrepancy at Apache’s Shekilie site, reports the Northern Journal. The leak is believed to have begun on October 3rd, according to Apache.

The released water is a waste product of Apache’s oil and gas operations in the area. Apache characterizes its operations near Zama as using “a novel enhanced oil recovery method to produce oil from what were once thought to be exhausted wells.”

Reports of the release came just one week after Apache announced it had discerned the cause of a much larger incident that occurred in June, spilling 15.4 million litres of produced water in a 42-hectare area. 

Images of the June spill, released by the Dene Tha to Nathan Vanderklippe, show the high-oil content of the release. According to the AER (formerly the ERCB) roughly 2000 litres of oil were released in the originally estimated 9.5 million gallon spill. 

The spill, caused by a pipeline failure, released produced water into the surrounding forest for nearly one month – May 5th to June 1st – before it was detected. According to Apache, “the failure of the less than five-year-old pipeline was caused by stress corrosion cracking.”

“Apache believes a pinhole in the exterior plastic liner allowed water to leak into the pipe, which mixed with sulphur gas, causing stress corrosion cracking and the sudden failure of the pipe.”

Apache initially reported only 9.5 million litres were spilled, due to “volumes…incorrectly allocated to another injection well.”

A third and much smaller spill was also detected earlier this year.

According to the AER, the cause of the most recent spill remains unknown, although the pipeline “is shut in a depressurized.” Both the AER and Alberta’s Environment and Sustainable Resource Development are present at the site.

The AER reports there are impacts to vegetation although no impacts to water bodies or wildlife have been reported. As of October 31st more than 600,000 litres of the spilled waste water had been recovered, reports the AER. 

Threats to our environment are often hidden from public view.
So we embarked on a little experiment at The Narwhal: letting our investigative journalists loose to file as many freedom of information requests as their hearts desired.

In just six months, they filed a whopping 233 requests — and with those, they unearthed a veritable mountain of government documents to share with readers across Canada.

But the reality is this kind of digging takes lots of time and no small amount of money.

As many newsrooms cut staff, The Narwhal has doubled down on hiring reporters to do hard-hitting journalism — and we do it all as an independent, non-profit news organization that doesn’t run any advertising.

Will you join the growing chorus of readers who have stepped up to hold the powerful accountable?
Threats to our environment are often hidden from public view.
So we embarked on a little experiment at The Narwhal: letting our investigative journalists loose to file as many freedom of information requests as their hearts desired.

In just six months, they filed a whopping 233 requests — and with those, they unearthed a veritable mountain of government documents to share with readers across Canada.

But the reality is this kind of digging takes lots of time and no small amount of money.

As many newsrooms cut staff, The Narwhal has doubled down on hiring reporters to do hard-hitting journalism — and we do it all as an independent, non-profit news organization that doesn’t run any advertising.

Will you join the growing chorus of readers who have stepped up to hold the powerful accountable?

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As The Narwhal turns five, I’m thinking about the momentous outpouring of public generosity — a miracle of sorts — that’s allowed us to prove the critics wrong. More than 6,000 people just like you donate whatever they can afford to make independent, high-stakes journalism about the natural world in Canada free for everyone to read. Help us keep the dream alive for another five years by becoming a member today and we’ll mail you a copy of our beautiful 2023 print magazine. — Carol Linnitt, co-founder
Keep the dream alive.