The impacts from a spill on July 3 at Stoney Creek in Abbotsford will not be long term and fish are no longer at risk, according to the environmental consultants hired by the city.
GHD Ltd. wrote in a report issued Friday (July 12) by the city that they have completed their evaluation of the chemicals in the firefighting foam that was accidentally released into the creek.
The report states that the chemicals released were Phos-Chek and Frontier fluorine free foam concentrate.
“… the two products are highly soluble in water, readily biodegradable and do not really absorb into surrounding landforms or organisms found in the water,” GHD said it its report.
“From this, we can surmise that impacts to the environment would be acute (short-term) and not chronic (long-term).”
GHD said the spill resulted in 922 dead fish and 1,448 live fish being recovered from the creek and moved to Clayburn Creek.
Another 300 live fish were salvaged from an unimpacted upstream portion of Stoney Creek where they were stranded due to seasonal low water levels.
GHD said the release of the foam likely temporarily resulted in “lower dissolved oxygen conditions” in the creek.
“Additionally, while these substances are generally not toxic to fish, they can physically coat their gills, which can cut off their oxygen supply,” the report states.
“The combination of low oxygen in the creek and decreased gill function likely resulted in rapid fish mortality as the fish would not be able to access sufficient oxygen to survive.”
GHD said it is believed that most of the fish died on or before July 5, and there is no longer any risk to aquatic life in the creek.
The company recommended that the city discontinue water treatment, remove a cut-off damn that restricted access to the creek from fish and other waterborne species, and discontinue water sampling.
The city confirmed in a press release on Friday that it is winding down its emergency response to the spill following “positive results” of the water testing and environmental assessments.
Bateman Park will be fully reopened in the coming days, the city said.
Firefighting foam was leaked into the creek from a disconnected hose on July 3.
The city announced on July 5 that it was activating an emergency operations centre to deal with the spill. This included setting up a water treatment system.
Fish were recovered from the creek by representatives from Semá:th First Nation, Stó:lō Guardians, Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance and GHD.
The city also worked with Matsqui First Nations and the Ministry of Environment in the mitigation efforts.
City manager Peter Sparanese said the city is grateful for the “expertise and collaboration” of First Nations partners, the biologists and environmental experts.
“The safety of our environment, aquatic wildlife and our community remains our top priority, and we are grateful the test results show the creek and surrounding area is safe,” he said.
The city said it will continue to investigate the incident and take measures to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.
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