Cleanup efforts underway after oil spill into Humber River in Toronto
Global News
Cleanup efforts are underway after oil spilled into the Humber River earlier this week. The City of Toronto was alerted to the spill on Monday.
Cleanup efforts are underway after oil spilled into the Humber River earlier this week.
Lawson Oates Director of Environment and Administration at the City of Toronto, told Global News the city was notified of the spill on Monday.
According to Oates, a concerned citizen saw the spill and notified officials.
“My understanding is it was like an oil sheen on the surface of the creek, the outfall point and then proceeding into Humber River,” Oates said.
Once the spill was contained, Oates said officials undertook “two key actions.”
“Our first action (at) Toronto water was to set up containment booms to limit any of the oil getting into the natural environment into the river courses impacting ecosystems,” he said.
“We then also launched an investigation and traced the spill back to a manufacturing plant in the industrial park in the Finch and Weston Road area — where we believe is the source of the spill — and began working with the company to understand how the spill occurred and to engage them in their responsibility for cleanup efforts.”
Oates said the investigation has revealed that machine oil was in a holding tank, and as it was moved to another tank, a pumping mechanism jammed, leading to an overflow.