Two engine oil spills later, the Quebec Ministry of the Environment has still not been able to identify the source. Authorities are also preparing for a possible future spill in the St. Lawrence River, in eastern Montreal.
According to what the ministry specifies in a written response to the questions of the Duty“research is continuing in collaboration with the City of Montreal to find the origin of the spill” detected on July 25, two weeks after a first spill in the river in the Pointe-aux-Trembles sector.
A total of 19,000 litres of water mixed with about 1,000 litres of oil were pumped from the river after a spill was discovered on July 11, but the ministry was unable to say on Tuesday how much oil had been released or recovered since July 25, the second spill.
Samples taken during the two pollution episodes made it possible to determine that, in both cases, it was motor oil discharged into the St. Lawrence from a storm sewer.
What’s more, we’re preparing for another spill. “The outlet of the pipeline has been surrounded by booms and booms in anticipation of future rain events in order to contain the contamination if there were to be a new influx,” explains the Quebec Ministry of the Environment.
Meanwhile, “recovery work is underway” and clean-up operations are planned to rid the banks of this oil, which has contaminated birds in recent days.
In addition, the ministry carried out a plant inventory in the sector, where there are areas suitable for feeding the copper redhorse, a species of fish unique to Quebec and classified as “endangered”.
“There are no water intakes that could be impacted in the area. Consequently, no notice of non-consumption of drinking water has been issued,” the ministry said.