Alberta's oilsands are pumping the equivalent of a major oil spill into the Athabasca watershed every year, says an independent report.

The research study, published yesterday in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, suggests toxic emissions from the oilsands are nearly five times as high and cover twice as much area than reported by Suncor and Syncrude.

Dr. David Schindler, one of the report's authors, said the results show that better monitoring is needed and more remedial measures need to be taken to ensure the health of those living along the Athabasca River and its tributaries.

"I think the human threat is already there," he said yesterday.

"We're hoping when the government sees this, they'll make efforts to upgrade their monitoring programs and we're hoping to develop a model that the government will pick up and execute."

The report suggests more than a decade worth of monitoring and testing has failed to capture the scope of the pollution caused by oilsands operations and estimates some 34,000 tonnes of toxic particulates are being released from the two resource giants every year.

Studies were conducted by several monitoring stations along the waterways for two months in the summer of 2008.

Alberta Energy Minister Rob Renner, noting he and his staff haven't read the findings but will look at them, dismissed the suggestion that the heavy oil industry is having a detrimental effect on the environment.

"We've done an extensive amount of testing that tells us there's not (any) risk associated with development," he said.

"There are no obvious signs of impact from industrial development," Renner said.

But Schindler noted the signs are plentiful that the continuing development of the oilsands has had a major impact. He said the discovery of fish in nearby Fort Chipewyan, including one with multiple tumours and another that was "rotting while alive" suggests the downstream impact is taking a major toll on the aquatic population.

And until more comprehensive studies are done, Schindler is suggesting the province put a moratorium on further development alongside waterways, developing new ways to clean emissions from the plants and dust control to limit the damage from toxic particulates.