Heather Wright/The Independent

The clean up of crude oil at the Suncor dock on the St. Clair River continues.

And St. Clair officials say the township’s municipal water supply is safe to use but water from the river should be avoided.

Just after 1:30 Thursday Suncor officials notified the community and the Ministry of the Environment, Parks and Conservation about a spill into the river. 

“As part of this response, community members will notice an odour in the vicinity of the Suncor dock,” Suncor said in the notice. 

Emergency crews from Suncor and Shell, downriver from the Suncor dock, have placed booms in the water to contain the crude oil which had spilled into the water.  

Booms were also being deployed at the Shell docks as surveillance boats circled in the area around 2:30 pm

A vacuum truck could be seen at the Shell dock sucking up part of the spill.

Investigators from the MECP were also on scene as is the St Clair fire department.

Earlier in the afternoon, St. Clair officials warned residents not to use water from the river. Most of the township’s residents use the municipal system which was not affected.

Late Thursday afternoon, Lambton Public Health issued a Do Not Use warning for water from St. Clair River saying the crude flow has been stopped but there may be issues downstream.

Public health says people should not use the water from the river under any circumstance and avoid skin contact using municipal water for things like bathing drinking and brushing your teeth.

Public health says no one has become sick from the crude spill.