The Guide for Reclaiming Aggregate and Borrow Excavations to Water Bodies (The Guide) was prepared for Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and is a is a presentation of current knowledge, recent research, and best practices employed in the Oil Sands Region of Alberta (OSR) and abroad. This document provides broad guidance for reclamation of In Situ facilities, specifically reclamation of water bodies in aggregate and borrow pits. The document can be applied to water bodies ranging from shallow, nonpermanent wetlands to small ponds and lakes.
The Guide is designed to be used as a workbook - walking through the milestones and steps involved with planning for, designing, and constructing a water body from a borrow or aggregate excavation. The 4 milestones of the guide provide general direction on reclamation plan development, land construction and soil placement, establishing vegetation to the site and development and implementation of a reclamation monitoring plan.
The objectives of The Guide are:
1. Support the preparation of detailed reclamation plans.
2. Provide practical operational guidance for water body reclamation activities.
3. Provide a framework and structure that enables effective documentation of a water body reclamation project from start to finish.
4. Provide guidance towards attaining healthy aquatic ecosystems, self-sustaining water bodies, and land function and operability that are a close approximation of natural regional conditions.
5. Support successful reclamation certification.
This Guide provides general recommendations for water body reclamation. However, due to the wide range of potential site conditions and unique circumstances surrounding each reclamation project, this Guide should not be considered to provide prescriptive direction to be applied across all applicable sites. The intended audiences for The Guide are those who are involved in reclamation planning, design, and operations. It can also be used as a reference for In Situ company managers, regulators, stakeholders and consultants.