(The Assocated Press circulated the following article on December 15.)
HAUSER, Idaho — Tests were under way Wednesday to determine whether wastewater spilled at a train refueling station made its way into an aquifer used by 400,000 people in two states.
The Hauser Mainline Fueling Facility opened Sept. 1 atop the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for residents in the Spokane, Wash., area and part of north Idaho.
The leak of wastewater containing diesel fuel and motor oil was discovered Friday at the fueling station about 25 miles northeast of Spokane. The pipe was immediately shut down, but Gus Melonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co., said the fracture could be more than three months old.
“We can’t estimate the volume” of the leak, Melonas said. “There is no evidence that the aquifer has been affected at this time.”
Soil and groundwater samples were being tested to determine if the nearby groundwater is safe to drink, said Marc Kalbaugh, site remediation manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
The preliminary investigation to determine the safety of the drinking water and extent of the leak will take several days, Kalbaugh said.
Meanwhile, normal refueling operations were continuing, Melonas said.
Environmental groups and local residents fought unsuccessfully to stop the refueling station from being built over the massive aquifer.
“Apparently our worst fears have happened in the first 120 days of operation,” Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin said.
The 8-inch-wide PVC pipe was designed to carry wastewater and spilled fluids from the main locomotive fueling platform to the refueling depot’s onsite treatment facility.
When it was being constructed, the $42 million project was called the most advanced, environmentally friendly train refueling depot in the nation.
The aquifer, about 150 feet below the surface in the area, is the object of a three-year, $3.5 million study.
Buell Hollister, a Hauser resident who fought the depot’s siting, said soil below the facility is gravelly and will make a poor barrier for fuel or other spilled contaminants.
“It’s extremely porous,” Hollister said. “I don’t imagine it would take very long for (contaminants) to migrate down to the aquifer.”
Hollister said he was impressed by the care taken in constructing the facility, but “I certainly didn’t expect any problems this soon.”
“I’m just hoping it isn’t severe. No matter how sophisticated and how much technology is involved in developing this facility, accidents happen,” he said. “They will happen again.”
Railroad officials notified Idaho regulators shortly after the leak was detected, Kalbaugh said.
“BNSF is acting in a rapid manner,” Kalbaugh said. “They have met the protocols that were established.”