Understanding ambient and settled dust in communities near intensive resource development to improve monitoring and mitigation

The project analyzed the results of focused regional monthly measurements of dustfall levels and of TSP levels in Fort McKay in conjunction with ongoing regional particulate matter monitoring datasets. By comparing dustfall and particulate matter measurements in other communities in the RMWB to those in Fort McKay, the impact of mining operations on dust levels in Fort McKay were semi-quantitated with the following findings: • Fort McKay is uniquely impacted by dust compared to rest of AOSR; • A small number of events disproportionately contribute to cumulative PM mass, especially when considering supracoarse PM>10 ) and coarse (PM2.5-10) PM fractions; and • There may be an opportunity to use continuous PM measurements as a surrogate for near-real time dust monitoring and/or mitigation.

The study found that there are frequent exceedances in Fort McKay of both the Alberta Ambient Air Quality Guideline for dustfall and the Alberta Ambient Air Quality Objective for TSP reflecting the significant influence on the community of dust emissions associated with oil sands mining operation.
The study is the first to examine the nature of dust issues in Fort McKay which are both episodic and seasonally variable. The study discusses the challenges in continuously monitoring TSP and options to achieve comprehensive dust monitoring.