USask Researcher Joins Team Studying Plants and Microbes for Oil and Wastewater Cleanup | The Canadian News

A University of Saskatchewan researcher joins a team studying ways for plants and their related microbes to clean up wastewater from oil sands operations.

School of Environment and Sustainability Assistant Professor Lori Bradford will look at the social science aspect of the research to explore the legal, social and economic gaps in cleaning knowledge.

4:08Making the center attractive

Another team is looking for natural ways to clean up large volumes of wastewater by building a wetland treatment system using vegetation, soils and organisms to filter and process suspended solids and trace metals.

“Right now, the regulations say that oil and water cannot be returned to the environment,” Bradford said. “There are more than one billion cubic meters of water, of which 80% is recycled and reused, which must be stored on site.”

Bradford said decisions will have to be made about the remaining water, if and how it is returned to the environment.

The green technology required can be more environmentally friendly compared to other technologies or chemical treatments.