Minister Boutilier announced today that Alberta Environment is introducing a new standard on Baseline Water-Well Testing for Coalbed Methane Operations, which will apply to water wells that are located in proximity to shallow coalbed methane wells.
"The Pembina Institute supports this new standard," says Mary Griffiths, Senior Policy Analyst with the Pembina Institute. "It guarantees that landowners will have access to pre-drilling data in case of a dispute over changes in water quality after drilling occurs."
Under the new rules which come into effect on May 1st, companies will be required to collect data on all groundwater wells, with landowner consent, within 600 metres of a new shallow coalbed methane well. The standard does not apply below the base of groundwater protection; that is, a depth of 15 metres below the deepest non-saline aquifer.
If no water wells are found within the 600 m radius, testing must be offered at the nearest well within a 600 - 800 m radius and companies are expected to test more than one well within that distance if there are landowner or other concerns. "This is an important improvement in groundwater protection. Prior to this standard, water well testing was not mandatory," says Mary Griffiths. "It was done voluntarily by some companies and some landowners negotiated for it to be done."
"We commend Alberta Environment for its commitment to continue working with its multi-stakeholder committee to review the water well data after 6 months and again after 12 months to determine the need to improve the standard," says Mary Griffiths.
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The Government of Alberta's release is available at www.gov.ab.ca/