This annual report presents a summary of hydrometric data collected by the Water Survey of Canada
(WSC) in the Alberta Oil Sands area in 2019. This report is the second annual publication intended to
provide the public with an understanding of the hydrologic conditions that were present in the Oil Sands
area in each year and how they compared with historical conditions. This report is a deliverable produced
by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) as part of the Surface Water Quantity Monitoring
services provided by ECCC to support the Alberta Oil Sands Monitoring Program.
The ongoing collection of high quality surface water quantity data by the WSC, as part of the national
surface water monitoring network, supports scientific efforts to address several of the Oil Sands
Monitoring (OSM) program key questions, including those regarding establishment of baseline data,
monitoring for change, and integration of environmental monitoring data to support scientific
investigation into other themes (e.g. water quality, benthos, fish, etc.). All data collected by the WSC in
the Oil Sands area are publicly available on the Environment and Climate Change Canada Wateroffice
website in near real time for both viewing and download (https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/). In addition to
users accessing data online, there were 75 data requests received by WSC for OSM funded hydrometric
stations between January 1st and December 31st of 2019. Of those data requests approximately 47% came
from Consultants, 29% from Government/Utility Corps, 8% from Industry, 7% came from Academics, with
the remaining 9% being of unknown affiliation.
There were 48 hydrometric gauging stations operated by WSC in the Oil Sands area in 2019 (shown on the
map provided in Appendix A). Conditions at four key stations are discussed in the main body of this report
and are presented from upstream to downstream as follows: Athabasca River at Athabasca, Clearwater
River above Christina River (a major tributary to the Athabasca River), Athabasca River below Fort
McMurray, and Athabasca River at Embarras Airport. The local contributions from the western and
eastern tributaries to the Athabasca River main stem are also discussed. A summary table of all active
WSC hydrometric stations within the Oil Sands area in 2019 is provided in Appendix B, and annual
hydrographs are provided for all active hydrometric stations in Appendix C.