title: Initial environmental impacts of the Obed Mountain coal mine process water spill into the Athabasca River (Alberta, Canada).
abstract: On October 31, 2013, a catastrophic release of approximately 670,000m(3) of coal process water occurred as the result of the failure of the wall of a post-processing settling pond at the Obed Mountain Mine near Hinton, Alberta. A highly turbid plume entered the Athabasca River approximately 20km from the mine, markedly altering the chemical composition of the Athabasca River as it flowed downstream. The released plume traveled approximately 1100km downstream to the Peace-Athabasca Delta in approximately four weeks, and was tracked both visually and using real-time measures of river water turbidity within the Athabasca River. The plume initially contained high concentrations of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); some Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environmental (CCME) Guidelines were exceeded in the initial days after the spill. Subsequent characterization of the source material revealed elevated concentrations of both metals (arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, and zinc) and PAHs (acenaphthene, fluorene, naphthalene, phenanthrene, and pyrene). While toxicity testing using the released material indicated a relatively low or short-lived acute risk to the aquatic environment, some of the water quality and sediment quality variables are known carcinogens and have the potential to exert negative long-term impacts.
authors.affiliation: Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, Suite 111, Twin Atria Building, 4999-98 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T6B 2X3, Canada; Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 1-26 Earth Sciences Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E3, Canada. Electronic address: colin.cooke@aemera.org.
authors.forename: Colin A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.affiliation: Hatfield Consultants, Suite 200, 850 Harbourside Drive, North Vancouver, BC V7L 0A3, Canada.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schwindt
authors.affiliation: Hatfield Consultants, Suite 200, 850 Harbourside Drive, North Vancouver, BC V7L 0A3, Canada.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.affiliation: Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency, 10th Floor, 9888 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5J 5C6, Canada.
authors.forename: William F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Donahue
authors.affiliation: Hatfield Consultants, Suite 200, 850 Harbourside Drive, North Vancouver, BC V7L 0A3, Canada.
authors.forename: Ekram
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Azim
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta; D055884:Chemical Hazard Release; D003031:Coal; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D008906:Mining; D061329:Oil and Gas Fields; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D003031:Coal; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Athabasca River; Coal spill; Heavy metals; PAH; Water quality