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NORTH OAKVILLE TODAY - It’s been just over a year since an unknown substance was found floating down Bronte Creek and it was discovered that a nearby petroleum pipeline had cracked.

Over the past 12 months, a massive clean-up effort has been undertaken at the scene near Bronte Road and Speers Road to try to restore the sensitive environmental area.

On March 11, 2010, Town of Oakville staff responded to reports of a sheen on the surface of Bronte Creek and five days later, it was discovered that the source of the material was a cracked pipeline owned by Trans-Northern Pipelines Inc.

At the time it was estimated that 90,000 litres of petroleum product escaped into the environment.

Since then, the pipeline has been replaced, a massive excavation has taken place and groundwater has been treated and returned back to the creek.

According to Tim Edwards, District Engineer for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, between October 2010 and February 2011, crews removed approximately 11,000 tonnes of contaminated soil and are currently assessing options for removing contaminants from the remaining soil.

The soil that was removed is being used as cover material at a landfill site and according to Edwards, the soil is not hazardous.

Al Conquergood, President of Trans-Northern Pipelines Inc., said that the excavated soil has been replaced by similar soil compatible with Bronte Creek’s environment. The new soil was selected and approved by Conservation Halton.

Edwards also said that crews have recovered approximately 50 million litres of contaminated groundwater and treated it.

He said that the groundwater treatment system will be operating in the creek valley until soil and groundwater reach background concentrations, which he explained were levels that one would expect to find in uncontaminated areas.

 “They expect to be running the systems for at least the next couple of years,” said Edwards.

As for the creek itself, Edwards said that the Ministry of the Environment has not encountered any evidence of adverse effects to the creek generated by the spill.

To date, Conquergood estimates that Trans-Northern has spent $11 million dollars on the Bronte Creek clean up.

“I always hope that these things can be done more expeditiously,” he said. “We can assure the residents that we are acting quickly but we also have to make sure that we are acting responsibly.

“It is very pleasing from my part to see that the salmon run occurs and you can see that life is going on as it should even though we’re there trying to clean up after our spill.

“I’m saddened by the fact that there was a spill of course,” he continued. “The conservation area is doing their part to protect the ravine and like everyone else, we are all working together on this.”

03/25/2011 – Posted by Ryan Crane, an 'Oakville Real Estate agent' that specializes in the Milton, Burlington, Mississauga and 'Oakville Real Estate markets'. Find him at www.oakvillerealestate4sale.ca

This Oakville Real Estate Agents website provides MLS tools that will give you all Oakville MLS Listings for the Oakville Homes for Sale plus all of the Sale Prices for Oakville Sold Properties.

Source- Ian Holroyd –  insidehalton.com

Tags: Oakville Homes, Oakville Homes for Sale, Oakville MLS Listings, Oakville Real Estate Agents
 

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