Officials from the province and Suncor are investigating after an industrial wastewater pipe froze and broke, spilling untreated waste water Monday.
A Suncor spokesperson said the three metre long pipe burst at some point Monday, and spilled untreated wastewater into a partially frozen outflow pond.
“Process-affected water is industrial waste water,” Sneh Seetal, a Suncor spokesperson said in a phone interview from Calgary. “It is water that has been used in our extraction and upgrading process and has not yet been treated.”
The province has sent officials to oversee testing on the site north of Fort McMurray.
The province said provincial officials were on site Monday to assess the situation, and samples of the water had been sent to a lab for analysis.
“Samples were taken right away, and they’ve been rushed off to find out what was in there, and so we will wait until those samples come back from the experts to tell us what is in there,” Environment Minister Diana McQueen said.
Seetal said the waste water poured into a pond that contained treated water which had met requirements for release.
“We have started testing to determine the exact composition of the contents of the water,” Seetal said.
A Greenpeace spokesperson was critical of the incident, and said the company should already be aware of what’s in the processed water.
“Suncor should know what chemicals are flowing through its pipeline, they should know how fast those chemicals are flowing,” Mike Hudema said. “So we should have a good idea how much was dumped into Alberta’s landscape.”
Later Tuesday, Suncor said officials had found the spill had flowed out of the pond, and had mixed with water meant for release – before flowing into the river. Suncor said officials are analyzing down-stream samples from the river.
Shortly after news of the leak broke, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation was quick to condemn the spill – saying the spill is another example of the government and industry’s failure to safeguard the environment and people.
Seetal said it wasn’t yet clear how much of the process-affected water had poured out of the broken pipe – the water was stopped by 4 p.m. Monday.
A stop-work order has not been issued for the site, and the province didn’t say if a fine would be handed down for the breach.
With files from Susan Amerongen
