Work to clean up a spill of about 12,000 litres of diesel fuel in Jaffray is still underway, with testing work coming over the weekend.
Regional District of East Kootenay officials said crews are working to remove diesel containment from the recovery trench, this includes ice and snow that may have been tainted by the spill.
A sample was collected to test the water quality and the results are pending.
“Stantec is working with the Ministry of Environment to determine the feasibility of a water treatment system on-site to support the return of clean water back into the natural system to limit impacts on the groundwater levels and river flows,” said RDEK officials.
The precautionary water quality advisory issued by Interior Health on Feb. 15 remains in place for now.
More: Jaffray fuel spill leads to precautionary water quality advisory (Feb 15, 2023)
Meanwhile, work to bore and install monitoring wells is also ongoing as the initial work had some setbacks.
A new subcontractor had to be hired for the job because the initial crew did not have adequate equipment.
RDEK officials said the alternate contractor will continue their well installation work on Saturday and Sunday.
Soil samples have been collected from their work so far, with the results expected to come over the weekend.
“The Remediation Plan will be prepared after the receipt of the results collected from the monitoring well installation and subcontractor responses for quotes,” said B.C.’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. “Additional preliminary drinking water samples will be collected from nearby residences.”
More: Investigation into impacts of Jaffray fuel spill continues (Feb 14, 2023)
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