Treatment of oil sands process affected waters by constructed wetland: Evaluation of designs and plant types

Constructed wetland treatment systems (CWTSs) offer a potential solution to reduce toxicity by remediating the oil sands process-affected waters (OSPWs) produced by bitumen extraction by biodegrading the naphthenic acids into less harmful byproducts. The purpose of this study was to test the ability of various constructed wetlands to biodegrade OSPW by assessing the toxicity in the laboratory using fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) embryos. Embryos were exposed both before and after biodegradation, at various time intervals, concentrations, and locations within the constructed wetlands. Survival to hatch, hatch success, hatchability, and deformities were assessed at the end of the exposure periods.

The constructed wetlands tested both synthetically prepared and industry-sourced OSPW. Due to limited amount of sample, the constructed wetland was set up to recirculate the water collected from the industry sites however, the synthetically prepared sample was set up as a flow-through system.

All data, as well as specifications on each constructed wetland, are a part subject of a publication containing method details, full QA/QC, interpretation and conclusions. Citation: Simair, M. C., Parrott, J. L., le Roux, M., Gupta, V., Frank, R. A., Peru, K. M., Ajaero, C., McMartin, D. W., & Headley, J. V. (2021). Treatment of oil sands process affected waters by constructed wetlands: Evaluation of designs and plant types. The Science of the total environment, 772, 145508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145508