Nearly a week later, investigators are trying to find out the extent of the damage done by 12,000 litres of diesel fuel spilled in Jaffray.
“The Ministry of Environment is still in charge of that, and they’re working with Interior Health,” said RDEK Electoral Area B Director Stan Doehle. “They’re in the clean-up phase now. They dug a big trench in there to take the run-of that’s flowing into there. They’re looking at doing some test wells in the area, taking soil samples, and looking at some of the resident’s wells.”
The spill happened Saturday morning.
“A fuel truck was filling an underground tank and it overfilled. The overfill spillway was behind the building and it wasn’t noticed until it poured past the building, overland and into a rock pit,” said Kandis Lipsett, senior environmental response officer.
Emergency responders kept the fuel from igniting, and investigators showed up later that day. They have been looking into the incident ever since.
Interior Health issued a precautionary water quality advisory while the investigation continues.
Doehle said he has heard concerns from residents.
“It’s a shallow water table there, and it’s a concern of the Regional District that it gets addressed at the end of the day,” said Doehle. “Working with the Ministry of Environment, I’m sure we’ll have a good outcome.”
Doehle said the Regional District of East Kootenay will continue working with the investigators and act on behalf of local residents.
“They put us in office, they elected us, and we will advocate with the Ministry of Environment and Interior Health to make sure they have clean drinking water,” said Doehle.
More: Jaffray fuel spill leads to precautionary water quality advisory (Feb 15, 2023)
More: Jaffray fuel spill leads to precautionary water quality advisory (Feb 15, 2023)
More: Investigation into impacts of Jaffray fuel spill continues (Feb 14, 2023)
