Issue regarding water( Alberta) - Essay Example

It called this the ‘Water for Life’ action plan (Alberta, 2010). With this goodwill from the government, it is surprising to see companies in Alberta engaging in practises that are seen to be opposite in nature to what the government is proposing. This is why this research has been conducted. It seeks to provide an assessment of water pollution in Alberta with a view of putting forth recommendations on how the same can be eradicated to ensure the sustenance of life in Alberta as water is indeed life.

Water Pollution There are various causes of water pollution in Alberta, the main being human activities. Human industrial activities, the main being energy production, are seen to negatively affect the quality of water and its viability as relates to its conduciveness for human consumption. Energy is a requirement for the smooth running of operations in any region, but its production should not attain a superior status vis a vis the preservation of the environment. The companies in Alberta have set out to achieve energy production while destroying the water in Alberta, herein lies the problem.

It is shocking that the Albertan government has put profits above the health of the people and the sustenance of the environment. This is made worse by the fact that the Canadian government has no set national standards that aim to protect the environment. This has led to an alarming trend of both air, land and water pollution whose effects are now being seen as vegetation growing on and the water coming from the contaminated areas is becoming toxic to both animal and human consumption (Committee, 2011).

Companies have engaged in Hydraulic fracturing; which is the injection of fluids under high pressure into underground rock formations to access natural gas. The natural gas is easily accessed in this manner because injecting the fluids at high pressure causes cracks and fissures in the rocks which enables the gas to escape and be harnessed. This practice has been fought against because it happens not to be as fool proof as the companies would like the population to believe. This process does not guard against water pollution because the gas that is trapped in the rock makes it way via these cracks into water bodies.

This has catastrophic effects because the gas renders the water dangerous for human consumption. This affected water is the same source that the citizens of Alberta use as drinking water as they get the same from surface water sources which include rivers, lakes and reservoirs which are thus polluted (Alberta, 2010). A recent study showed the presence of high levels of ethane, methane, and benzene in the water and one resident of Alberta stated "My water began dramatically changing, going bad.

I was getting horrible burns and rashes from taking a shower, and then my dogs refused to drink the water. That's when I began to pay attention." (Nelson, 2010) Water is also used as a raw material in running the machines that work towards the production of oil and petroleum. Water is being absorbed by these companies at very high rates, causing the water level in Alberta to continuously fall because this same water that is