Lloydminster oil spill won’t affect N.B. water

While the investigation has only begun, an official with the Ministry of the Environment says Tuesday’s oil spill near the Lloydminster water treatment plant was intentional. But unlike the Husky Oil spill last year, this one won’t affect North Battleford’s water.

“The prediction is that this was a deliberate act and the oil was dumped into the storm sewer,” said Wes Kotyk, acting Assistant Deputy Minister with the Environmental Protection Division said in an interview with BattlefordsNow. “There was no one around to report the spill and luckily it was discovered by the city of Lloydminster staff.”

Kotyk estimates than roughly 2,000 litres of oil covering about two cubic metres was dumped near the culvert. He said his department does not consider this a significant incident as the bulk of the material was able to be contained into the storm sewer and did not escape outside of that area.

“There is no fear that the water system will be affected,” said Kotyk. “As of Tuesday 95 per cent of the spill had been recovered and crews are on site trying to clean up the rest as quickly as possible”