Sandbars

The Athabasca River is one of the largest rivers in Alberta. It carries a heavy sediment load, especially in the spring when the river runs high. A variety of factors affect when, where and how much sediment is deposited by the river. To a certain degree, these can be anticipated, but alterations in the river’s course are often sudden and dramatic. At Bitumount, the shoreline changed significantly between the 1920s and the 1950s, as can be seen from photographs.

Why this happened is a matter of debate, but the consequences were very real. By the late 1940s the original location of the water intake for the plant had silted up and had to be moved. By the early 1950s, the deposition of sandbars made it impossible to bring large boats to the landing to load and unload supplies.