Mosier’s Boil Water Advisory Lifted
Mosier Derailment Unified Command News Update 7
The city of Mosier lifted its boil water advisory Monday as work crews continued to remove oil from the tanker cars that derailed last week.
Water sample tests showed that the water from a back-up well now being used is safe to drink. At 2 p.m. the city lifted the boil water advisory for all residents except for two homes on Rock Creek Road.
Response crews continued to transfer oil off the derailed tanker cars and stage it for transport through The Dalles.
Union Pacific has identified a preliminary cause of the crash, saying a bolt that fastens the rail to the railroad ties may have been at fault. But the final determination of the cause has not been made.
Sixteen tanker cars carrying Bakken crude oil derailed Friday afternoon, June 3. Officials estimate that 42,000 gallons of crude escaped from four rail cars. The cars were part of a 96-car train carrying Bakken crude oil.
Thirteen cars remain at the wreckage site and two have been emptied. The oil will be transferred to The Dalles for transport by rail to Tacoma, Wash., its original destination.
Union Pacific estimated that 10,000 gallons were removed from the wastewater system after the crash with the remaining 32,000 gallons either burned off and vaporized, captured by booms in the Columbia River, or absorbed by soil. An undetermined amount remains in wastewater lines.
Booms remain in place as a precautionary measure but no new signs of oil sheen have been seen on the river or other waterways. Environmental crews have been working to identify and control the source of the sheen.
Traffic resumed on the rail line through Mosier late Sunday but with restrictions on the cargo that can move through the area with trains limited to 10 mph.
Crews continued to carefully monitor air and water quality around the site of the crash.
A temporary fix has allowed the city to restore sewer service to local customers. But until the city’s wastewater treatment plant is repaired, Mosier’s wastewater will be collected and trucked to Hood River for disposal.
Federal, state, tribal, and local authorities remain at the command center near the scene to coordinate response until the cleanup is complete. ]
Media and citizen inquiries can be directed to: MosierMP70@gmail.com, an information kiosk is located at the Mosier School, and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is providing public updates at bit.ly/deqmosier.
Other sources of information:
Oregon DEQ Mosier web site: bit.ly/deqmosier.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MosierDerail/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mosierderail
Union Pacific: www.up.com/mosier
Judy Smith, Incident Information Officer, 503-545-2540
Suzanne Skadowski, Incident Information Officer, 206-900-3309
