Spring thaw could stir up oil
Lac-Mégantic oil could be stirred up by spring thaw
The Chaudière River is being closely monitored because of concerns the spring thaw and heavy rains could stir up oil that collected in the riverbed after last sum- mer’s train derailment in Lac-Mégantic. And Lévis, St-Georges and Ste-Marie, which all use the river as a source of drinking water, will also do testing.
Quebec’s environment department says it is closely monitoring the Chaudière River because spring thaws and heavy rain could stir up oil that collected in the riverbed after last summer’s train derailment in Lac-Mégantic.
The department will run a special sampling program this spring to see if the weather is having an impact on the oil in the river’s sediments.
Nearly six million litres of oil spilled in the July 6 train derailment, some of which made its way into Lac Mégantic, the source of the Chaudière River.
Although 40 kilometres of contaminated shorelines were cleaned in the months after the accident, some residual contamination of the riverbed remains, the department said Wednesday. Under normal flow conditions, the remaining contaminants should not affect water quality, the department said. But heavy rains and the spring thaw could cause the contaminants to become suspended in the water.
The city of Lévis, and the towns of St-Georges and Ste-Marie, which all use the Chaudière as a source of drinking water, will also do testing near water intake sites to monitor quality, the department said. Those three communities had to use alternate sources of drinking water for two months after the train derailment.
A committee of experts is using information from sampling done on the Chaudière last fall to create a plan to manage the remaining contaminants in the river. That plan, as well as other information regarding the state of the river, are expected to be made public in May, the environment department said.
The government will also do a new assessment of the river sediments in the coming months to determine the effect the spring thaw on the pollutants in the river.