About two cubic metres of water are imported for each cubic metre of crude oil that Syncrude produces – less than half the industry average. Today, the facility recycles over 85 per cent of the water it uses.  Much of the remainder is lost to evaporation into the atmosphere where it returns to the hydrologic cycle. It does not return any process-affected water to the river.

Syncrude continues to advance technologies and process improvements to further reduce fresh water consumption and increase recycled water use, including the research of new extraction methods that do not require water.