Tu Nipi Water Solutions is an Indigenous-led venture bringing BioLargo Canada's advanced water treatment technology to oil sands process water in northern Alberta.
The Partnership
Tu Nipi Water Solutions Ltd. is a First Nation-led company formed to deliver treatment solutions for oil sands process water, wastewater and industrial water in the Athabasca region of northern Alberta. It combines Indigenous leadership from Tu Nipi Water Solutions Inc. with BioLargo Canada's advanced water treatment technologies and science. BioLargo Canada holds a minority stake.
The division of work is straightforward. Tu Nipi leads the venture and holds the relationships in the region. BioLargo Canada is primarily responsible for technology development.
"Clean water is a top priority of every Canadian Indigenous community, and the regulatory environment is finally catching up to that. Fort McKay has learned to balance energy and the environment. This partnership is about bringing solutions to problems that people have been asking about for a generation."
Ron Quintal, Chief Executive Officer, Tũ Nipi Water Solutions
Why Fort McKay
Fort McKay First Nation sits at the confluence of the Athabasca and MacKay Rivers, surrounded by oil sands mines and tailings ponds. The community has decades of documented experience with the effects of that development on air, water, wildlife and traditional land use — and a long record of leadership in both environmental protection and economic development.
Water treatment in this region has been studied at a distance for a generation. Tũ Nipi exists to do it from inside the community that lives with the problem.
First Projects
Oil sands process water. Emissions Reduction Alberta has conditionally approved Tu Nipi's first grant application, supporting commercial trials of BioLargo technologies on oil sands process water within a project budget of CAD $4.6 million. BioLargo Canada leads the technology development.
Municipal and industrial wastewater. Tũ Nipi and BioLargo Canada have identified an initial wastewater project and further clients for BioLargo's PFAS treatment and odour control technologies.
The programme is stage-gated by design: work advances to the field only once bench and pilot results confirm performance on real water.
What's Next
The partners plan a formal launch event in Fort McMurray in October 2026 with community, government and industry participants. Further details will be announced as Tũ Nipi's projects advance.
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