PUSLINCH – It may take weeks to complete the cleanup of a jet fuel spill on Highway 401 in Puslinch.
The spill may have long-term effects not only in the township, but in downstream municipalities such as the City of Cambridge.
On Jan. 13 at 1:40am Puslinch Fire and Rescue was dispatched to the 401 eastbound lanes at Highway 6 north for a motor vehicle accident involving a fuel tanker and a second vehicle.
The tanker carrying 50,000 litres of jet fuel rolled on its side and a spill occurred.
Puslinch Fire Chief Luis Gomes said crews were on the scene for several hours with 13 firefighters and four fire trucks.
He added the Cambridge fire department assisted with 11 firefighters and five trucks.
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) was notified, is the lead agency, and was on site as the cleanup began.
Gomes noted dump trucks of sand were also brought to the scene to help the agencies create berms and dikes for product containment.
The crash on the 401 initially shut down both directions of the highway, causing major traffic problems. Since jet fuel is highly flammable, there were concerns the spill could ignite.
MECP spokesman Gary Wheeler stated the on-call environmental officer arrived at the scene just after 3am on Jan. 13 to oversee the start of the cleanup and remediation activities.
“We are working to ensure that the owners of the spilled material are aware of their responsibilities and take the necessary steps to clean up the site to mitigate impacts,” Wheeler said.
“Environmental vacuum trucks remain at the wetland south of the accident site to skim impacted water. Crews are also working to address any fuel-contaminated soil in nearby ditches and adjacent wetland areas.”
Wheeler said the responsible party, at the request of the ministry, retained a professional engineering consultant – Stantec – to provide technical oversight of the cleanup measures and to assess any environmental impacts.
“Absorbent booms have been deployed in Aberfoyle and Mill Creek, and cleanup crews have also deployed ocean booms at locations along Mill Creek, including the Concession 2 bridge (Puslinch Township), at the Gore Road bridge and at the southernmost section of the Shade’s Mill reservoir,” he explained.
Wheeler noted that based on more recent observations, additional booms have been deployed at Mill Creek and Concession 1 (Puslinch Township), and further downstream as an additional precautionary measure at Franklin Boulevard and Clyde Road (City of Cambridge).
By Jan. 15, environmental cleaup specialists were setting up barriers in the creek in the area around the Shade’s Mill Conservation Area in Cambridge.
Crews worked around the clock, using floating booms designed to soak up petroleum, trying to stop the fuel from flowing any further into Cambridge. Mill Creek runs west from there, through the city and Soper Park until it joins the Grand River south of Main Street in downtown Cambridge.
Provincial authorities said they were monitoring the spill and the trucking company would be billed for the cleanup.
A press release issued by Puslinch Township stated Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health was notified and have spoken with the ministry.
“There are no concerns about fuel leaking into private or municipal wells within the township,” the Puslinch release stated.
The township added residents can call public health at 519-822-2715 x 4753 for more information. For status on the cleanup, residents can call the MECP Guelph District Office at 519-826-4256.
“To date, the ministry has no evidence of impacts to private wells and based on a preliminary review, no impacts to wells near the spill site are expected,” stated Wheeler.
He noted Stantec committed to respond to private well concerns on a case-by-case basis.
Ministry staff are screening incoming calls and forwarding any well concerns to Stantec.
The affected area may still take another four weeks to clean up, according to the Ministry of Transportation.
Wheeler stated that this week, Jan. 21 to 25, Stantec will submit two remedial work plans related to ongoing work at the scene of the accident and to creek containment and rehabilitation.
The ministry stated it has not received or observed any direct evidence of impacted wildlife as a result of the spill – nor have the local humane society and Environment Canada’s Wildlife Enforcement Branch, which both had staff in the field last week.
Stantec has established 11 surface water sampling locations. Results from this sampling will help determine the extent of impact.
Wheeler said work is expected to continue 24/7 (weather permitting) through this weekend and any significant updates will be reported through the Ministry Spills Action Centre.
“To date, no impacts have been observed in the Grand River or to local drinking water,” said Wheeler.
However, significant portions of the impacted surface water, including Shade’s Mill reservoir, are frozen, making it difficult to visually track the extent of contamination as well as recovery impacts.
Below freezing temperatures expected in the short term, will create ongoing challenges.
In relation to work along the 401 at the scene of the accident, the Ministry of Transportation may require that heavy equipment on the roadside be temporarily relocated, depending on weather conditions.
This temporary relocation would allow for snow plowing access to ensure driver safety.
GRCA communications manager Lisa Stocco stated the GRCA’s role in the event of a spill into a Grand River watershed river or stream is to “support its watershed municipalities and the Ministry by providing river flow information for pollutant travel times and to ensure that downstream drinking water plants have been notified.”
Concerns of impact to Mill Creek
Friends of Mill Creek president Don McKay is worried about the impact the spill will have on the local watershed.
“We’re concerned about it hurting the fish population,” McKay said.
“We’ve been working for 15-plus years to rehabilitate that creek and this could certainly be a setback in that rehabilitation.”
However, McKay also clarified “we’re going to have to wait until we can get into the creek to undertake monitoring to determine what [the effect has been] on the fish population and any other species in the creek.
“We are quite concerned, but there is not much we can do until there is an opportunity to start doing some monitoring and determine what the full impact will be.”
He explained the impact runs from at least Sideroad 20, Concession 2 in Puslinch to Shade’s Mill (in Cambridge).
“One of the positive things we can do in determining the impact is Friends of Mill Creek has well over 15 years of data on the creek such as water flows, fish population and temperatures,” McKay stated.
“We’ve let the ministry know we are willing to provide that data and information as a baseline once they can get in to begin monitoring.
“The good news is we at least have a baseline to say where things were at before the spill.”
While there have been smaller spills, “there’s been nothing of this scale to affect the creek in the past 15 years,” McKay said.
Five wells closed in Cambridge
Waterloo Region closed five municipal water wells in Cambridge as it deals with the fallout of the jet fuel spill.
The five affected wells serve the Shade’s Mill water treatment plant, including two that are fed directly from Mill Creek.
