Oil spills into lake
The repercussions of a furnace oil spill on Front Street in Harwood are rippling more than where the nearby creek and ditch empties into Rice Lake.
An oil slick is still visible near shore, coating surviving geese.
Two geese have already died, according to nearby property owners.
Water and oil soaked pads are frozen into the lake ice about 20 feet from shore.
Furnace oil continues to seep into the lake from a drainage ditch that runs behind the house, 150 metres away.
A tenant in the house where the leak originates is out thousands of dollars, and is now also experiencing health problems, believed to be associated with the oil.
The house and furnishings are impregnated with the stench of furnace/diesel oil.
The registered owner of the property, George Newton Lang, lives in Studio City, California.
The property is under the care of Fred Holloway of Cobourg, as property manager.
It was rented to tenant Sandra Mate in December 2002.
The spill was reported to the Peterborough Office of the Ministry of the Environment on Jan. 24 and was told by Mr. Holloway that “approximately one gallon of furnace oil had leaked from the basement of the house at 5425 Front Street.”
He also indicated to the Ministry, according to a Provincial Officers report “that on behalf of the property owner, he would retain Johnson Septic Service Limited, a local spill clean-op contractor, to begin controlling and cleaning up the spill.”
Provincial Officer Michael Longpre, writing in his report states: “based on an update from the Spills Action Centre on January 27, 2003, indicating that the spill was ongoing, and that area waterfowl was being impacted at Rice Lake, he and another Officer, David Arnott attended the site location to assess current conditions”
He wrote “it was noted there was a creek flowing through the site location, connecting to a municipal ditch which in turn connected to Rice Lake”.
The officers observed that the creek, the municipal ditch and an open section of Rice Lake “all had visible signs of oil present on the surface of the water”. They also observed “visible contamination on the banks of the creek and the municipal ditch.”
In addition, the provincial officers observed “that oil was getting past the booms placed in the ditch by Johnson Septic Service on behalf of the property owner and was continuing to flow downstream into Rice Lake.”
Their investigation of the house, also on Jan. 27, “revealed significant flooding in the basement with visible oil on the surface of the water in the basement.”
Samples of the contaminated water were collected from all areas, from the house to the Lake.
Subsequently a clean up order was issued as a result of a contravention of section 14 of the Enviromental Protection Act due to the spill. The report was issued Jan. 28 and gave the property owner/manager 24 hours to contain the problem, hire a consultant to assess the damage, prepare an action plan with implementation schedule to restore the property.
Ministry officials said the clean-up will include removing all contamination, vegetation and soil from the affected site all the way to the Lake, a distance of about 150 metres. Cost is expected to run between $140,000 and $180,000.
However, while they currently don’t know the total impact or effect of the damage, they expect to know soon.
Ministry investigators have also been brought in to study the violation to determine if any further prosecution may take place.
The new tenant, Sandra Mate said all of the problems started in December when they moved in to clean up the house, repaint and wallpaper.
She paid her first and last months rent in the amount of $1,000 on Dec. 16 and was told there was a lot of oil in the tank.
They ran out of oil two days later.
Because they could not get a company to refill the tank before Christmas, she was forced to spend $280 filling the tank five gallons at a time with diesel fuel until Dec. 26.
The furnance oil supply company she contacted said an inspection of the tank would have to be done before they filled it on Dec. 27. Because it had a hole in it, it was condemned.
A new tank was installed on Jan. 2, but it apparently also leaked near the furnace.
The red coloured furnace oil had apparently leaked into a sump pump well in the corner of the basement. With a continuous odor of oil, Ms. Mate said she bailed out between 30 and 40 gallons of the red liquid which now sits stored in a large drum on the front lawn. And the problems were not over yet.
Water almost eight inches deep seeped into the basement and froze, mixing with the furnace oil, and then leaked out a basement door, across the grass, and into the ditch.
They were ordered out of the house Jan. 27 by ministry officials and the power has been turned off, Ms. Mate said.
Ministry officials in Peterborough were contacted late in the day Monday, and told their questions would be answered by Tuesday morning.
Mr. Holloway, who is also reeve of Hamilton Township could not be reached Monday at the Municipal Offices, nor could he be reached at home prior to the paper’s printing deadline of the Cobourg Daily Star and Port Hope Evening Guide.
