A bad week for industrial accidents near Slave Lake ended with a single vehicle collision near the Mitsue Industrial Park on May 5.
Local police, EMS and fire department members responded to the accident, which occurred on the West Mitsue road at the Alberta Plywood complex just before noon.
A portion of West Mitsue Road was closed for approximately one hour while authorities investigated and cleared the scene. According to a news release from Constable John Spaans of the Slave Lake RCMP detachment, a tanker truck carrying produced water lost control and rolled onto its side.
The collision caused a small rupture on the tank “resulting in a minor spill of the chemical.”
The driver of the truck was taken to hospital in Slave Lake and treated for minor injuries. He was also charged under the traffic safety act for careless driving.
The police statement indicates that the spill was contained and that Alberta Environment was notified.
Produced water is a byproduct of the process of extracting oil. Essentially used to displace oil in the ground, the resulting water is considered ‘produced.’
As an oil well ages, more produced water is required. A U.S. white paper study of produced water report U.S. wells produce an average of more than seven barrels of water for each barrel of oil. For crude oil wells nearing the end of their productive lives, water can comprise as much as 98 per cent of the material brought to the surface.
Once its usefulness is used up, the produced water is then placed in settling ponds, forced into sand beds for containment or deposited into deep wells. CCS Energy Services is one local company that provides the containment service, utilizing a deep well to dispose of the toxic liquid.
Produced water contains elevated concentrations of heavy metals including barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, nickel, silver and zinc. There are also small amounts of radium226 and radium228 and up to several hundred parts per million of volatile dissolved organic material.
Cheryl Robb of Alberta Environment commented on the quick response of the company trucking the hazardous waste, saying “They contacted us very quickly after the accident, and with the help of the RCMP, told us that only about 50 litres of the waste was lost, and an additional 20 litres of diesel oil from trucks gas tanks.”
The cargo was then offloaded to another truck, and continued to its destination.
The collision was the second confirmed industrial accident near Slave Lake that involved dangerous spillage between Apr. 30 to May 8. The other was the Penn West pipeline break that resulted in oil getting into the Otawau River. An unconfirmed report from a reliable source stated that the produced water the truck was carrying came from another spill or line break, one that does not appear to have been publicly acknowledged.

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