Application contradicts company claim that the Grassy Mountain Project will have “No water drawn from creeks or rivers.”

Calgary | Mohkinstsis, Treaty 7
April 8, 2026

Australian-owned coal company Northback Holdings has applied for a new Water Act license for the contentious Grassy Mountain Project.  

Despite the claim on Northback’s website that the Grassy Mountain coal mine will require “No water drawn from creeks or rivers,” the application requests the diversion of 185,022 cubic metres of water from Blairmore Creek watershed per year. Diverting surface water within the basin from reaching the creek, of course, equates to removing water from the creek itself.

This enormous figure is the equivalent of 75 Olympic swimming pools, or the approximate lifetime water consumption of 3,200 people. 

CPAWS Southern Alberta has grave concerns about this application, and advocates that the Alberta Energy Regulator deny the application.

No Mine Application Has Been Submitted

While the Alberta Energy Regulator encourages companies to submit related applications – i.e., applications related to the same project – at the same time to consider a project in its entirety, Northback has yet to submit a full project application for the Grassy Mountain coal mine. 

This was the process that was followed with the previously rejected Grassy Mountain application, such that when the project was denied, so was the associated Water Act application.  

“A Water Act license should be included as part of an integrated application to avoid allocating water to a project that may still be rejected,” says Katie Morrison, Executive Director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s Southern Alberta Chapter.  

“Northback is attempting to skip the queue – and obtain a license before having to submit a project application, which would provide much-needed details on the use of that water and the impact of its diversion.” 

Impacts on Stream Flows and Aquatic Health

The Government of Alberta’s Fish Sustainability Index ranks the Blairmore Creek population of threatened westslope cutthroat trout as being at very high risk. Similarly, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas has identified a very high need to protect the Blairmore Creek watershed, which could provide opportunities to help recover genetically pure and near-pure strains of the westslope cutthroat trout.  

While the license application indicates that treated water will be returned to the creek, if this water is removed during already low flow or stress conditions or cannot reliably meet water quality standards – of which there is currently no technology that works at the scale of an operating mine to do so – there is no guarantee that impacts to water flows can be mitigated to maintain aquatic health. 

Vague Statements on Water Use

As yet, Northback has made ambiguous statements on the water that will be required for Grassy Mountain; in the mine project description, the company only indicates “Water volumes to be determined.”

Before any water license should be considered, Northback should produce solid evidence of its projected water usage, based on a comprehensive accounting of: The complete water balance, including coal processing, wash plant circuits, water used for spraying belt transfer points for both raw and clean coal, water for haul road dust mitigation and at the coal loadout into the trains, plus water used by general mine utilities and evaporation losses, and a full assessment of impacts of this water use. 

In the previously rejected mine application the proponent – then called Benga Mining – purported that freshwater demand for its coal-processing alone would be 412,500 m³ per year of surface water, not including recycled sources. 

Using the same formula based on the project’s updated estimate of coal production, it is estimated that 213,750 m³ of water would be needed per year for coal processing alone. This is, clearly, far more than the license Northback is applying for. However, it is unclear what the total water requirements are for the mine proposal or how this water will be used. 

The Basin is Already Overallocated

Water in the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB) has also long been considered over-allocated and has been closed to new license applications since 2007.  

However, a loophole in the Water Allocation Order grandfathered in from an earlier Oldman Allocation Order does allow for 11,000 acre-feet of water for “use within the region.” Primarily, this is for irrigation but does include 150 acre-feet – 185,022 cubic metres – for industrial purposes, despite the general closure on the rest of the basin. In short, Northback is applying for the entire new industrial water license volume for the Oldman Basin as defined in the Order.

“Water in the Oldman Basin is already in short supply. It’s unacceptable that Northback is attempting to secure water from it, before even having submitted a full project application – let alone having that application approved – and a clear, evidence-based projection of how much water the Grassy Mountain Project would use over its lifetime and its impact on the aquatic system,” concludes Katie Morrison.

Take Action

CPAWS Southern Alberta is submitting a Statement of Concern to the Alberta Energy Regulator advising that this application should be denied. 

To view the application and file your own Statement of Concern go to Public Notice of Application – PNoAWebApp. Statements of concern are due April 12, 2026 at 12AM.