Wapiti Valley, Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy of Enns Kivin, Facebook
According to the latest update on the Husky Oil spill from the province, things are described as stable.
250,000 litres spilled into the North Saskatchewan River in July, and 140,000 thousand litres have been cleaned up to this point.
“Ideal situations vary all over the place,” said Ministry of Environment spokesperson Kevin McCullum when speaking on how much of the spill they hope to clean up.
McCullum says they are hoping for a high recovery of the spill, which would be around 80-90 percent of the spill recovered.
The Ministry of Environment says 600 people and 43 boats are involved in the cleanup efforts. They are investigating further environmental impacts caused by the spill. Over 2700 water samples have been taken and more than 1000 of those have been analyzed, with either no detection or low levels of hydrocarbons. Eighty-eight animals have died because of the spill and another 10 are currently in recovery.
According to the Water Security Agency, all of the communities affected by the spill seem to be doing well with the alternate water sources they have set up. North Battleford is expected to begin receiving water from the Battleford water system on Tuesday, given the water pumped from that system passes the necessary tests.
The two water pipelines flowing to the City of Prince Albert from the South Saskatchewan River and the Little Red River have no operational issues, while continuing to pump water into the community. Rural areas around Prince Albert are still subject to boil water advisories, but tests are currently being done, which will hopefully lift the water advisory soon. The Melfort Water treatment plant is in good working condition.
Further down the river, booms have been placed along the river near Cumberland House as a precautionary measure. The community has an off-river water source that has been maintaining them since the spill.
Prince Albert and Muskoday First Nation remain under a state of emergency, but officials hope to lift those designations by the end of the week.
There were some reports of a sheen on Tobin Lake, but officials do not believe the foam reported by people was a result of the oil spill. The incident is under investigation, but the province says it is still too early to speak on any repercussions Husky Energy might face as a result of the spill.
Ministry of Environment spokesperson Kevin McCullum says it is also too early to tell if the Ministry can charge Husky under the Environmental Management and Protection Act.
“At this point it is just still really premature to talk about charges. The incident is still being investigated and we have to wait for some of the results of the investigation, which is currently underway.”
Saskatchewan’s Commissioner of Emergency Management says this summer’s oil spill has been more complex than last summer’s forest fires. While Duane McKay does say more communities were impacted by the fires last year, he says more people have been affected by the spill and it has taken a greater technical standpoint to get the spill under control.
McKay says the response from the communities involved to overcome the complex and technical issues presented by the spill has been outstanding.
“In many cases we were just clearing the path for these communities,” said McKay. “In one sense it was a very substantial incident, but in another, it showed a resiliency by the communities affected in their ability to respond, so that was very impressive.”
Husky Energy says they are willing to compensate for all damages caused by the spill.