A canoe trip down the North Saskatchewan River turned into an unsolved mystery for an Alberta family. Tim was canoeing with his son and nephew when they saw something that had them whip out their video camera and hit record. What they saw looked like a small geyser in the middle of the river; with water bubbling up at least several feet from the surface.
“When I was there in front of it,” recalls Tim, “it seemed like a pipe was broken or something.”
“We quickly got out of there because I had my three year old with me… and I didn't want him... just in case it might have been gas or something that was bad.”
Tim called Global News, and the incident was reported to the government through the Environmental hotline (1-800-222-6514). Alberta Environment has taken samples, and informed Dow Chemical late Wednesday. The company says there is no concern about water quality.
Tim says the bubbling was quite aggressive; so much so, it rocked his boat, and there was as odd odor in the area. When our crews arrived at the scene Thursday – days after the canoe trip - the water was much calmer.
“We're working with the appropriate parties to determine what happened,” says Jessica Potter with Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.
It’s been determined a section of a wastewater discharge pipe connected to the Dow Chemical Plant is cracked, which was causing the bubbles. The company confirmed the issue Thursday, after being notified by Alberta Environment.
“We have been able to confirm that we do have a mechanical... or a physical issue with the pipe that does actually require repair, says Carol Moen with Environmental Health and Safety leader with Dow Chemical.
“It's because the water that was actually coming out of the pipe was coming out of the river that was much more shallow then what we would normally expect to be discharging the water into.”
Tim and his family also recorded several dead fish floating in the river in the same area. Whether or not the pipe leak has had a direct impact on the environment or species in the river has not yet been determined.
“We have adjusted the flow on our water discharge to minimize that disruption to the river,” says Moen. “As we're working through any of our next actions... and the repair... we'll engage with all the appropriate regulators to make sure that everybody is comfortable with our plan.”
The wastewater is being treated, and Alberta Environment is investigating, but this is still being considered a localized event.
“We're also required to meet a significant amount of quality parameters which we take very seriously,” says Moen. “We're absolutely confident that there were no issues with the water that was discharging to the river from our end.”
Potter says, “We're currently taking samples to understand the specifics of the incident.”
With files from Vinesh Pratap
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.