Saanich crews dealing with another oil spill in the Colquitz River

Saanich crews are battling another oil spill in the Colquitz River, after getting calls from walkers in the park about the spill in the late afternoon on Thursday.

Crews quickly responded, working throughout the night, placing booms in the water to contain the oil.

“Saanich received a report of an oil spill that reached the Colquitz River near the fish fence,” said Kelsie MacLeod, Saanich communications manager. “Crews will continue to investigate the source and have been searching in the Sims/Regina area.”

The spill was traced upstream to two storm drains from the pedestrian bridge behind the old Kelsey’s Restaurant in Cuthbert Holmes Park.

“I was notified early this morning, and met with the crews at the fish fence,” said a concerned Dorothy Chambers, who is the project lead for Salmon in the City, a Department of Fisheries and Oceans funded project that collects data and spawning habits on returning Coho salmon to the river each year.

Chambers says the lack of odour from the oil leads her to believe it is not furnace oil, and that it continues to slow from the storm drains.

This is the third spill this year, with the last one occurring less than two weeks ago.

On April 22, oil leaked into the Colquitz River from a drainage pipe near Portage Inlet.

At the beginning of the year, a leak spilled from a residential heating-oil tank into Gorge Creek, which connects to the Colquitz River.

In Saskatchewan, a broken rail is suspected to have caused the spill of more than three million litres of crude oil.