REGINA – Officials say oil that leaked from a tanker following a rollover on Highway 2 did not end up in nearby Buffalo Pound Lake, which supplies drinking water to Regina, Moose Jaw and surrounding communities.
Late Wednesday night a tanker carrying two trailers rolled on the Buffalo Pound Causeway. The first trailer rolled and hit an embankment but did not breach. The second, a pup trailer carrying used oil, did suffer a leak.
“The pup trailer had released some of its contents, but the contents of that trailer had all been confined to the road,” said Wes Kotyk, director of the province’s environmental protection branch. “As of this point, there has been no used oil that has been released to the lake.”
On Thursday crews were on scene cleaning up about 1,000 L of oil. By late afternoon the rest of the product from the pup trailer had been removed.
Ben Boots, the supervisor for the Buffalo Pound treatment plant says even if the oil did end up in Buffalo Pound Lake, there would have been some time to react because the plant is over 22 kilometres from the crash site.
“We will of course do some additional monitoring for hydrocarbons but I sincerely don’t expect any hydrocarbons to be noticed in the water,” he said.
The rollover led to a cleanup operation as crews tried to keep the oil away from the water supply.
Since water from Buffalo Pound Lake is treated to be drinking water, the spill is being taken very seriously. Snow banks kept the oil on the road, and the Ministry of Environment will keep an eye on the area during the spring melt.
“We may be looking at doing some test holes, drilling through the ice at safe locations just to confirm whether or not there is anything there,” said Kotyk.
Road conditions were described as poor Wednesday night.
Salvaging the truck and trailers may not happen until Friday.
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