Heather Wright/The Independent

St. Clair Township’s mayor wants some answers.

Jeff Agar says the response to a diesel fuel which led to a sheen on the St. Clair River has been terrible and says there has to be an investigation into how Corunna residents were notified and what Lambton Public Health and the Ministry of the Environment have done to help.

On Aug. 3, there was a derailment at Arlanxeo in Sarnia. Agar has been told during the clean up, a tanker car containing diesel was punctured, with as much as 12,000 litres of diesel spilling into the St. Clair. The all-clear for the incident was issued around 3:15 pm. Ministry spokesman Gary Wheeler says the Spills Action Centre notified downriver users including water treatment plants, direct water users, health units, public works, First Nations communities and the State of Michigan.

But Saturday afternoon, St. Clair fire officials started getting calls about a diesel sheen on the St. Clair River around Hill Street. Agar said the fire department went door-to-door in the area to tell people about the issue and found “there had been people swimming in it.”

There are also about a half dozen homeowners who still draw their drinking water from the St. Clair River, Agar says. He wasn’t aware there were homes in Corunna which have not been hooked into the Lambton Area Water Supply System. Agar expected public health to be helping the homeowners with bottled water while the sheen was being investigated.

Lambton Public Health issued a news release Sunday morning – about 17 hours after Corunna firefighters went door-to-door to investigate. The news release advised residents not to use the water for personal use or recreation.

Officials said only private drinking water systems are impacted; municipal drinking water systems continue to be safe for consumption and are not under the advisory. All local water treatment systems have been notified and are taking precautions to prevent contamination, said Lambton’s Medical Officer of Health Dr Karalyn Dudek.

She adds until further notice, people are warned not to use the water from any private drinking water systems from this area under any circumstances and avoid skin contact.

That means no using the well water for bathing, drinking, gargling, spraying, brushing your teeth or rinsing dentures, hand washing, household cleaning, laundry, making any kind of food or juice or preparing infant food and baby formula.

Lambton Public Health also has placed precautions on the St. Clair River in the area.
Public health says people should also use bottled water for washing and cleaning dishes and countertops and advises using alcohol-based hand disinfectant with more than 70 per cent alcohol can be used when water is not available.

Tuesday afternoon, Matt Butler, supervisor of health promotion at LPH, said the restrictions are still in place. In an email to local media, Butler shared few extra details about the incident other than “direct messaging was provided to all drinking water system operators in the area including municipal and private users, in addition to issuing the media advisory to the public. Lambton Public Health is working with the MECP to monitor the situation.”

The Independent asked Butler if sampling had been done in the river. He said pubic health was working with the MECP, but did not have any information about the sampling or results. Butler did not say if bottled water was being provided to the affected homeowners.

The MECP says it was the site of the spill Saturday and Monday to test the river water and ensure the clean up was progressing as it should.

Wheeler said Monday there was no sign of a sheen on the river and the incident was under investigation by the MECP.

Mayor Agar says the communication about the spill and the affect on local water users has been poor. “There are a lot of people who have dropped the ball here,” said a frustrated Agar. “It’s like they’re trying to shovel it under the table.”

The mayor says the river near Arlanexo and Suncor was boomed to prevent the spill from spreading, the all clear was sounded and then residents in Corunna noticed the problem and notified township officials.
“Why should we have to get a call from my residents who say their swimming in frigg’n diesel fuel?”

Agar says the township has been able to get few answers.

“If the river flowed north instead of south there would be a whole lot more happening right now,” he said.

Agar wants to know why an alert wasn’t sent out through Lambton Alerts about the issue.
He wants some answers on the poor communication soon, noting if this had been a different type of chemical, the situation could have been much worse.

Agar points out Styrolutions is shipping out the benzene it has stored on site now and questions if there were a spill there, would communications with officials and the public be any better.

Public health meantime says there have been no known reports of illness associated with this incident adding if someone you know does feel sick after contact with the water, you should seek medical help.