EWEB deploys spill response on McKenzie River following semi-truck crash near Belknap Springs
A tanker truck carrying an estimated 275 gallons of diesel and between 5,000 and 7,000 gallons of milk crashed this morning near Belknap Springs, releasing diesel and milk into a creek that flows into the Upper McKenzie River.
McKenzie Watershed Emergency Response (MWERS) partners swiftly mobilized to contain the spill. Drinking water is not expected to be impacted.
Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) staff and the Upper McKenzie Rural Fire Protection District were the first on-site to deploy spill response mitigation measures. Containment booms are in place in to capture materials both in the creek and the river, including a boom across Trail Bridge Reservoir, where milk from the spill is visible in the water. The total volume of materials that entered the waterway is still being assessed.
“We have many mitigation measures in place, and it would take a significant amount of time before any materials would travel all the way down the river to EWEB’s Hayden Bridge Drinking Water Treatment Plant,” said Susan Fricke, EWEB Water Resources and Quality Assurance Supervisor. “We appreciate our partners’ quick response to get mitigation measures deployed.”
Responding agencies include EWEB, Upper McKenzie Fire & Rescue, Springfield Utility Board, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and Region 2 HazMat. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is monitoring for impacts to fish.
EWEB and its MWERS partners conducted their annual spill response drill at this location last fall, which helped prepare response teams for an incident of this type.
Thanks to early containment, EWEB does not expect any impact to Eugene’s drinking water.
The MWERS includes more than a dozen local, state, and federal agencies, including McKenzie Fire & Rescue, Eugene-Springfield Fire Hazmat, the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, the Springfield Utility Board, City of Springfield, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Forest Service. Together, this system will administer the appropriate response to a potential oil spill.
