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Lake Wabamun Residents Ordered Not to Drink Well Water or Use Lake Water

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

EDMONTON (CP) - People around Lake Wabamun have been told for the first time since last week's train derailment not to drink water, shower, wash dishes, water gardens or rescue wildlife caught in the spill because they may be exposed to a hazardous chemical.

New information suggests a toxic chemical used to treat utility poles and other types of wood may have been part of last Wednesday's oil spill in the derailment of a Canadian National train at the lake west of Edmonton.

"People are obviously pretty upset," cabin owner Don Goss said Monday night, just before boarding a helicopter for an overhead look at shoreline areas with an environmental expert residents hired to represent them.

"It's very disturbing to hear these things this far into this process."

Goss said CN officials had told a handful of families who live at the derailment site to evacuate the area.

CN officials originally reported to government that one of the leaking tanker cars of the 45 cars that left the track contained lube oil, in addition to 15 tanker cars that leaked bunker C fuel oil.

Alberta Environment is waiting for test results, but suspects the lube oil is actually pole-treating oil from Imperial Oil. If the government's investigation shows CN didn't fully report the contents of the spill, as is required under the province's environmental regulations, the company could face charges.

Goss said CN officials were citing a lack of information from Imperial Oil on what was being shipped in the rail car.

An Imperial Oil spokesman couldn't be reached for comment and officials with CN did not return calls seeking comment.

"We do have concerns that there was a harmful substance," said Irwin Huberman, spokesman with Alberta Environment.

"Until the final results come through in the next day or two, as a precaution, we are advising people to stay off the lake and not to use the water."

The warning came days after residents entered the lake to place booms and other absorbent material in the water to try to protect their shorelines from the oil slick that's covered a portion of the lake.

Volunteers have also been picking up oil-slicked birds and other wildlife into an emergency centre at the arena in Wabamun for care and cleaning.

Residents expressed concerns about water quality and safety at public meetings with the company over the weekend. The village of Wabamun shut down its water plant right after the spill and has been trucking in water for its residents, but many lakefront cabin owners take their water from wells.

Last week Capital Health advised people not to swim or boat in the lake. On Monday afternoon, health officials issued the blanket advisory not to use any lake or well water for any purposes.

An online fact sheet from the company says pole-treating oil is a toxic mineral oil used to preserve wood products. It contains polycyclic aromatic compounds that can be cancerous under prolonged or repeated exposure.

It's not known how much of the 70,000 litres of pole-treating oil may have spilled into the lake because some of it was absorbed into the ground where the tanker car crashed, said Jay Nagendran, assistant deputy minister with Alberta Environment.

He said the ban on water use has been issued as a precaution while the government waits for final confirmation on what that tanker car contained.

"The public is already rattled by all of this and we don't want them to be misinformed," he said.

"We don't know what the impact on the water is."

Alberta Environment began investigating the chemicals at the derailment site in more detail after environmental experts raised concerns this weekend about what else spilled besides the bunker C fuel oil, which is used in liquid asphalt and to power barges and ships.

Huberman said the waybill for the materials being transported showed the tanker car that was leaking contained pole treating oil.

"They (CN) have an obligation to let us know the exact contents of the spill and it is our position that the information that was provided to us was not fully complete," Huberman said.

"We're considering appropriate consequences that may include prosecution."

Dr. Gerry Predy, medical officer of health, said Capital Health is still waiting for results of well-water tests done last week, which are expected to arrive Tuesday.

But when the new information about the pole treating oil came in, the decision was made to issue the blanket advisory, he said.

It could take several more days or even weeks of testing to give people more advice on what risk they face.

"There could be a risk to people's health," Predy said. "At this point we can't say yes or no. We can't say, if there is a risk, what it is. That's why we're being cautious and giving people this advice."

Marianne Tessier's family closed their cabin for the summer on Monday, cutting their holidays short to return home to Edmonton. Then she got news of the water ban and advisory not to pick up oil-slicked wildlife, which the family had been doing last week.

Tessier said the cabin they've owned for 16 years is far from the site of the spill, so she doesn't believe their well would be contaminated, but she said they'll have to wait and see.

"We may not be able to go back for a year, who knows," she said. "We may have to have cisterns instead of wells."

Source: Canadian Press

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