Heather Wright/The Independent

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks says about Suncor spilled about 5,000 litres of crude oil into the St. Clair River.

And MECP field officers are on the scene of the spill again today to monitor the clean up.

Just after 1:30 Thursday, Suncor officials notified the community about a spill into the river. 

Emergency crews from Suncor and Shell, downriver from the Suncor dock, placed booms in the water to contain the crude oil .  

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

Gary Wheeler, spokesperson for the MECP said Suncor notified the Spills Action Centre about the release around 1:43 pm. At the time the company reported up to 5,000 litres of “hydrocarbons, consisting of crude oil” had spilled into the St. Clair from the company’s cooling water system.

“A ministry field officer at the site confirmed that cleanup was occurring at multiple locations along the river, and that booms had been placed to contain any material that had entered the river,” Wheeler wrote in a statement to The Independent.

The spill sparked concern in St. Clair Township. Officials there warned residents not to use water from the river, but that led to some confusion. 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 said 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 wasn’t aware of anyone who had become sick from the crude spill.

The ministry is following up today to assess the status of cleanup efforts, Wheeler added. “The ministry’s role is to ensure that those responsible for any discharges to the environment take all necessary measures to restore it to its original state.”