AER employee recognized for leadership in water innovation
Alberta - May 15, 2017It goes without saying that water is our most valuable resource.
Ask Mike Bevan, an advisor with the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), and he would emphatically agree. Bevan has built a career around understanding how water is used by the energy industry and recently won the Water Innovation Leadership Award from the Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC).
Award-Winning Work
Bevan received the PTAC award in recognition for his contributions to PTAC’s water innovation and planning committee, one of several in which the AER participates. The committee also has representatives from Alberta Environment and Parks and the energy industry.
Its role is to look at gaps in industry knowledge and regulation, then evaluate and fund research proposals that can address these gaps.
“It’s important to have the regulator’s voice represented at the committee,” says Bevan. “My role is to round out the perspective and provide context so that the research can provide information that may ultimately be required to support regulatory change.”
A project currently funded by the PTAC committee involves understanding baseline groundwater conditions in areas of hydraulic fracturing activity. The objective is to establish a measurable starting point for the quality of groundwater that can be used over the long term to identify whether any changes occur, and if those changes could be a result of energy development activity.
Kate Bowering, Writer