Oil Spill in Waihopai Contained
Absorbent booms have been set in the Waihopai River to catch residual oil from a spillage at an Invercargill industrial site. Over 100 litres of light heating or lubrication oil was accidentally spilled after a tap was left running on Tuesday night.
When staff at the Waikiwi business noticed the spillage this morning, they contacted Environment Southland immediately, Senior Technical Officer Graeme McKenzie said.
By then, the oil had overflowed from the property to a stormwater drain and from there to the Drury Lane pumping station.
“Fortunately there had been no rain overnight, triggering the pumping station to start pumping into the Waihopai River automatically. If this had happened we would have been facing a far more serious problem,” Mr McKenzie said.
Contractors have waterblasted the stormwater drain between the source and the pumping station, and Environment Southland’s oil spill response team have deployed booms along the Waihopai River where the stormwater drain discharges, to mop up any residual oil.
The Council’s staff are still working with the company to calculate exactly how much oil was spilled. Mr McKenzie said it was more than 100 litres but could not be more precise.
Because the spill was still under investigation he would not name the company involved, but he praised the staff for reporting the problem as soon as they became aware of it. “They were totally up front about what happened; they didn’t wait for us to find out about it.”
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