Efforts to clean up an oily material spilled into Vancouver’s False Creek are wrapping up, but officials still don’t know where the substance was coming from.
The sheen was spotted following heavy rain last Tuesday, prompting the deployment of spill cleanup contractor Western Canada Marine Response Corp.
The Canadian Coast Guard said it was also working with the province and City of Vancouver to determine whether the material was marine-based or coming from on shore.
It looks like that question may never be answered.
“While we and our partners have conducted extensive on-water and on-land searches for a source, we have been unable to locate the slow, gradual release experienced in the False Creek area,” a spokesperson for the coast guard said in an email.
“This has challenged our team’s ability to quickly contain and recover the spill and we appreciate everyone’s patience.”
The coast guard said it was removing booms and pollution response equipment from the waterway on Wednesday and Thursday, and that “visible pollution was considerably less (Tuesday) compared to previous days.”
No recoverable material was located Tuesday, but some visible patches of non-recoverable rainbow sheen remained around Spruce Harbour and the Heather Civic Marinas remained. They are expected to dissipate on their own, the coast guard said.
Sign up to receive newsletters and breaking news email alerts.