Thousands of litres of diesel leaked undetected from Irving station, documents show
Fuel escaped through a crack in a pipe leading to an underground holding tank on Woodstock property
An Irving gas station on the outskirts of Woodstock leaked thousands of litres of diesel fuel into the environment, say government emails on the leak discovered in December.
A crack in an elbow pipe attached to an underground diesel storage tank may have allowed the escape of 100,000 litres of diesel fuel, according to the documents obtained by CBC News through a right to information request.
The fuel contaminated nearby groundwater, caused the closure of a Tim Hortons and Irving station, and potentially put nearby residential wells in peril.
Several residents told CBC News in January that they suspected fuel in the water at the Beardsley Road Tim Hortons.
That restaurant shares a parking lot with Murray's Restaurant and Irving gas station as well as an Irving transport truck refuelling station.
Some residents said they could smell fuel when they washed their hands in restaurant bathrooms, and some thought they could taste it in their beverages as far back as November.
In January, the province said the leak was discovered on Dec. 12 after Tim Hortons filed an incident report with the province when testing revealed the presence of petroleum in its untreated water. Its treated water did not show signs of contamination.
Those results led to the immediate closure of Tim Hortons as well as Murray's Restaurant and gas station. For several weeks, vacuum trucks and environmental disaster cleanup crews worked in the area around the clock. More than two months later, the vacuum trucks are still there.
At first, officials suspected the leak was much smaller, the documents from the province indicate.
"Early reconciliation of fuel volumes has the potential release up to 5000L," Shawn Prosser, an environmental inspector, wrote to colleagues. "At this time, it is not known the full extent or impacts but crews continue to work on the situation."
Irving hired Dillon Consulting to spearhead its response to the leak.
The company organized mediation crews and response teams, including vacuum trucks, and had barriers and berms installed at the ditches alongside Beardsley Road and the adjacent Trans-Canada Highway.
But after nine days of continuous cleanup, that first estimate of the leak was dwarfed, and the question was raised about why the leak hadn't raised an alarm.
"The amount will continue to be refined but they are estimating between 50,000 and 100,000 L's," Mallory Gilliss, a manager of contaminated sites with the Department of Environment, wrote to colleagues on Dec. 23.
The vacuum trucks were pumping around the clock, "and the early liquid that was being recovered was pretty much 90% product," Gilliss wrote.
"Investigation is on-going as to why the release didn't trigger any sort of alarm and there may be no way to know if it was a small leak over a few months or something larger with a shorter time frame."
The response next day, Christmas Eve, from Environment Department inspector Denis Ouellette, began with a "Yikes!"
"Quite the volumes possibly released! Samples collected in Beardsley rd ditch on dec 16th for TPH (Total petroleum hydrocarbons) in surface water had approx 1/3 free product and 2/3 surface water in collected samples."
On Jan. 10, Gilliss updated that amount again. She wrote in a report filed to the premier, "The amount of diesel released continues to be refined based on product recovery data but may be greater than 100,000 L's."
Cleanup response
After the leak was detected, Dillon Consulting began cleanup and remediation, which included canvassing businesses and residents in the immediate area to request testing of well water.
"They've tested my water at least three times," Ivan Tompkins, who lives about 500 metres from the leak site, across the Trans-Canada Highway, said in an interview this week. "So far, all the results have come back as negative. The water is still good."
Tompkins said Dillon Consulting has kept him informed about the leak and offered him bottled water, which he turned down.
He said he's worried "to a degree" but takes comfort in seeing the constant cleanup crews still at work. If his well water is contaminated, he expects the company to drill him a new well or to be hooked up to the Woodstock municipal water supply.
In the government documents, Gilliss noted that early testing of nearby wells would be expected to come back negative for contaminants from the spill and that testing over a long period will be required.
According to the documents Irving Oil worked with the Town of Woodstock to secure municipal water, enabling it to reopen the gas station, including its restaurant and adjacent Irving 24 transport truck refuelling depot. On Feb. 25, the Tim Hortons was closed, with a large Keep Out sign posted on its entrance.
CBC News requested an interview with someone from the Department of Environment and Climate Change to speak about the size of the leak, how it went undetected, and what impact it will have on local water. No one was made available.
Department spokesperson Vicky Lutes wrote that the department continues to receive reports about the leak. "Results show no impacts to offsite wells and a reduction in surface water impacts," she said.
She said Irving Oil has been carrying out assessments and referred questions to the company.
No one from Irving Oil would respond to requests for information about the leak.
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