Environmentalists sue Encana Corp., B.C. government over water use in fracking

We're heading irrevocably into a debate about water in this country, whether some people like it or not.

For many years, Canadian nationalists worried about massive water exports, but today the issue is the quality of the water in areas that are prospective venues for natural gas fracking.

Three environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court, alleging the province's Oil and Gas Commission and Calgary-based energy company Encana Corp. violated B.C. law by issuing short-term water licences, CTV News reports.

Ecojustice, the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Committee claim the commission's granting of repeated short-term licences allowing Encana to draw water from the province's lakes and rivers, violates the B.C. Water Act.

CTV News said the suit focuses on the use of 880 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water over three years from the Kiskatinaw River, which supplies drinking water to the city of Dawson Creek, the heart of northeastern B.C.'s oil and gas industry.

[ Related: Debate over fracking heats up on Newfoundland's scenic coast ]

“Our clients are worried that the hundreds of short term approvals issued every year under the Water Act are having an impact on water resources and the environment," Ecojustice staff lawyer Karen Campbell, said in a news release.

Ecojustice, which is spearheading the suit, said the amount of water Encana was authorized to take over three years was more than what Dawson Creek's population uses in a year.

The water was drawn from the river at a time when droughts had reduced its flow.

“People who live near gas drilling and fracking are worried about their water. They fear contamination, potential shortages, and what further gas development will do to the environment,” said Eoin Madden, climate campaigner with the Wilderness Committee, in the release.

“The bottom line is that we need to ensure that B.C.’s water is protected for people and the environment, not offered on a platter to oil and gas companies.”

Fracking involves injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into the ground at high pressure to fracture underlying rock formations and allow natural gas to be extracted. The energy industry maintains fracking is safe and the technique has been used for years. The waste water is recovered and needs to be treated and disposed.

But opponents worry the fracking chemicals may be toxic, contaminating local groundwater and the gas itself ends up mixing with the water. They cite literally inflammatory examples of people lighting their tap water on fire.

Natural gas production and export in liquified form (LNG) are a cornerstone of the B.C. Liberal government's economic policy. The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday an internal report prepared for Environment Minister Mary Polak warned large-scale LNG development could threaten the province's greenhouse-gas reduction targets.

[ Related: B.C. the ‘Wild West’ when it comes to giving companies groundwater access, critics say ]

Though the B.C. suit deals with the use of surface water, it would be surprising if the issue of groundwater isn't addressed.

The court case comes as B.C. introduces its long-awaited reforms to provincial water-use regulations. The Water Sustainability Act will introduce restrictions, including metering, licensing and new fees for industrial groundwater users, CBC News reported last month.

Bottled-water giant Nestlé's use of millions of litres of groundwater near Hope, B.C., without a fee or licence has been used as a major example of the loopholes in the century-old Water Act.

Nestlé lost a fight with residents who challenged plans to continue an exemption of its Hillsburgh, Ont., bottling-plant from mandatory water-use reductions in times of drought. Nestlé argued it had always complied voluntarily but caved in after activists appealed the Environment Ministry's decision to exempt the company from new mandated reductions.

Concerns about groundwater have also been at the root of opposition to natural-gas fracking in Atlantic Canada and the Quebec government has imposed a moratorium on it.