BC Hydro says it is working to clean up a coolant leak that was spotted in the Gorge Waterway earlier this week.
BC Hydro spokesperson Ted Olynyk says the leak was first detected on Friday along an underground transmission cable that connects the Esquimalt substation to the Horsey substation in Victoria.
Over the weekend, crews made repairs to the transmission line and topped it up with more coolant oil, which confirmed that no additional leaks.
It wasn’t until Monday that a sheen was first visible in the Gorge Waterway, according to Olynyk, which he suspects occurred after overnight rainfall.
Once the sheen was detected, crews placed containment booms along Cecelia Creek to absorb the coolant oil.
Olynyk says the coolant oil is a low-toxicity mineral oil that’s used to insulate transmission cables.
About 255 litres of the coolant oil leaked from the transmission line, but it’s unclear how much of that total wound up in the waterway.
“Unfortunately, sometimes it does happen, but of course, we had everything in place to remediate the soil and repair the leak and contain it,” said Olynyk.
BC Hydro estimates cleanup efforts will be complete sometime next week.
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