A tanker truck carrying 275 gallons of diesel and more than 5,000 gallons of milk crashed near Belknap Hot Springs in McKenzie Bridge on May 15 and sent the fluids pouring into the river, the Eugene Water and Electric Board said.
EWEB does not expect any impact to Eugene’s drinking water because of early intervention by the Upper McKenzie Rural Fire Protection District and other agencies.
McKenzie Watershed Emergency Response partners mobilized to contain the spill and placed containment booms to capture materials in the creek and the river, including across Trail Bridge Reservoir where milk from the spill is visible in the water.
Thousands of gallons of milk, hundreds of gallons of diesel spilled into the McKenzie River on May 15.
The total volume of materials that entered the waterway is still being assessed, EWEB officials said. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is monitoring for impacts to fish.
“We have many mitigation measures in place, and it would take a significant amount of time before any materials would travel all the way down the river to EWEB’s Hayden Bridge Drinking Water Treatment Plant,” said Susan Fricke, EWEB Water Resources and Quality Assurance Supervisor. “We appreciate our partners’ quick response to get mitigation measures deployed.”
EWEB and several other agencies conducted a spill response drill on the McKenzie River last fall, which allowed response teams the opportunity to train for similar incidents.
Haleigh Kochanski is a breaking news and public safety reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at HKochanski@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Tanker truck crashes, spills milk and diesel into the McKenzie River
