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Quinte chapter concerned by impact of sunken barge on Picton’s drinking water

The Council of Canadians Quinte chapter is concerned by the impact of a now partially submerged 27-metre long industrial barge in Picton Bay, the source of drinking water for the community of Picton.


The barge, which began sinking on Thursday night, contains contains about 1,200 litres of diesel fuel and 100 litres of hydraulic fluid. While the fuel tanks are reportedly intact, a sheen is visible on the surface of the water from about 30 litres of fuel, that is believed to be a combination of gas and diesel and some emulsives.


Mayor Robert Quaiff says, “I’m relieved right now that there doesn’t appear to be a threat to our drinking water, but we are monitoring closely hour-by-hour and we are getting regular updates.”


County Live reports, “[Mayor Quaiff] couldn’t say how close exactly it is to the municipality’s water intake pipe but said ‘the sheen was coming dangerously close and we let Coast Guard Canada know it may be in violation and that’s when action was taken to deploy another boom around the contaminant.'”


CBC notes, “The county said it has taken all necessary precautions to protect the local drinking water system, and said a sufficient supply of drinking water exists in municipal reservoirs in the event that pollution is detected. However some residents are looking for further reassurance.”


And Quinte News notes, “The incident did happen close to water intake pipes, but thankfully for County residents, there has been no real threat to the Picton water supply.”


The chapter has been working with Save Picton Bay, a group concerned about the pollution resulting from Picton Terminals, a deep marine dockage on Picton Bay (a branch of the Bay of Quinte on the north shore of Lake Ontario) that loads and unloads road salt, aggregates, farming products, steel, biomass and wine barrels.


Save Picton Bay notes, “This is exactly the kind of accident we have warned County Council would happen… We believe that if the proper zoning regulations were in place; if the County were enforcing their by-laws and if Picton Terminals were operating their port so that it did not endanger the surrounding environment and Picton Bay, these spills and accidents … would not be happening.”


This 3-minute video highlights those concerns, including 2-3 tons of salt leaching into the bay from the terminal on a rainy day.


The Bay of Quinte is considered an area of concern, a federal government designation due to severely degraded water quality and environmental health.


For updates on this situation, please see the Save Picton Bay Facebook page.