About 45 people from industry, government and academia showed up last week for a conference at Olds College to talk about constructed wetlands and how they can purify water that has been contaminated by industrial activity.Engineering companies, companies that work in the oilsands, governmnent and environmental organizations all took part in the conference, that put the Olds College wetlands at the forefront of research. Representatives from Canadian Natural, Cenovus and consulting companies took part.“The focus for (the conference) was specifically with constructed wetlands and the treatment of wastewater or stormwater. So what we're trying to do is here are filtration systems that can improve some pretty nasty toxins out there through the use of a constructed wetland,” said Gary Reavie, director of operations with Alberta Watersmart, the organization, in cooperation with the Olds College Centre for Innovation, that sponsored the conference.Reavie said mining companies are particularly interested in how to treat tailings ponds from their operations.Reavie said Olds College has an opportunity, through the wetlands research facility, to test different plants and how they take toxins out of the environment – especially in cold weather climates.“There's a lot of constructed wetlands that work just fine when it doesn't go below freezing, but up here you've got the additional challenge of (cold temperatures),” he said.John Rogers, a researcher at Clemson University in South Carolina, is embarking on a pilot project with Total E & P, an energy company that has an approved mine in northern Alberta, to test wetlands in northern climates.Rogers brought with him 35 years of experience in treating all types of contaminants through constructed wetlands all over the world.“We've treated a lot of water in industrial sites all over North America, parts of South America and Africa, so we've been involved in treating lots of waters with a variety of contaminants,” he said.Rogers said although there is a small-scale facility at Clemson, it doesn't have the scale that the treatment centre at Olds College has. Another advantage to the Olds wetlands is they can test the efficiency of plants at cooler temperatures.Dickson Atuke, one of the lead scientists at the Olds College Centre for Innovation, said the main point of the conference was to talk about constructed wetlands and how they help in the larger task of purifying and conserving water.“A lot of people think that constructed wetlands can play a role in the treatment of wastewater and that's why they are coming together to share ideas on how that can happen,” he said.Atuke said the conference was an excellent opportunity for Olds College to show off its facilities and the research capabilities that exist at the college.“This is big for us. We have this state-of-the-art, one-of-a-kind facility in Canada. We want to show them that we have this facility and we want to collaborate with them and be able to solve some of the questions they have concerning waste treatment,” he said.Atuke said one of the great things Olds College can do is test which plants work best in cleaning water.“There's a wide range of research that we can run, and we are really excited about the opportunity of meeting industry partners and we hope something will come up that (companies) will be interested in utilizing the facility we have in place,” he said.
