Water leaks from pipe at Suncor oilsands plant
Officials at Suncor say water used for extraction and upgrading flowed into a partially-frozen outfall pond at its oilsands plant north of Fort McMurray.
The water leaked from a pipe that froze and broke on Monday.
The flow was stopped around 4 p.m. but Suncor spokesperson Sneh Seetal says it isn’t yet known how much water was released or whether it went into the Athabasca River.
Alberta Environment believes the leak occurred around 11:30 a.m., but Seetal says the timeline still has to be determined and is an important factor in determining the volume of water involved.
She said authorities were alerted around 1 p.m.
“We are taking this incident very seriously,” she said.
“We’re conducting a full investigation and that includes testing to determine the exact composition of the contents of the pond, that includes testing samples of the pond and the river as part of our investigation.”
Seetal says the untreated water that leaked was also mixed in with treated outflow pond water.
People who live downstream of the plant have been notified. Alberta Environment says that samples have been sent to a lab for rush analysis.
