Water stewardship
We manage water use throughout our operations by exploring and implementing innovative opportunities to responsibly reduce, recycle and re-use as much water as is economically feasible. We use water across our operations including to create steam for the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) processes at our oil sands projects and thermal projects, to drill and complete wells, maintain access roads at our sites and to run our camps. Managing our use of water resources efficiently and responsibly is not only important to the environment, it also helps support our low cost structure.
What we're doing to reduce water consumption
Cenovus is always looking for ways to further reduce the amount of water we use and be more efficient with how we use it. Learn about the technology and innovation we use to increase the efficiency of water use in our operations.
Quick facts
On average, about 85 percent of the water we use to make steam at our oil sands projects is water that’s been recycled from our operations. Most of the additional water we use to make steam is saline water that is unfit for consumption or agricultural use.
Find out more about our water use in our environmental, social & governance report.