Oily Spill From Pipe Pollutes River Again

Mallards left trails through an oily sheen that coated a stretch of the Spokane River on Tuesday.

They’re probably getting used to it.

The pollution from a city storm pipe near Hamilton Street is a familiar problem, said Jeff Dill, spill supervisor for the state Department of Ecology.

“At least four or five times a year, we get oils and solvents out of that particular (pipe),” he said.

Tuesday’s spill, which left a rainbow sheen bank to bank between Gonzaga University and Riverfront Park, is no larger than some of the others, he said.

But people who reported it said the spill appeared much larger than Dill’s estimate of 10 gallons.

“When we stepped out of our homes, it was a smell that permeated the area,” said Orval Janssen, who lives in the Riverpoint Village development across the river from Gonzaga and noticed the sheen about 10 a.m.

City officials sent samples to a lab to determine exactly what type of solvent, lubricant or fuel was spilled. Officials said it is petroleum-based, judging from the odor and appearance.

The substance came from a storm drain at the Brown Building Materials salvage yard, 111 N. Erie. That outlet leads to a web of city pipes that drains storm grates over a wide area, said Mike Coster at the city’s sewage treatment plant.

The pollution doesn’t come from the salvage yard itself, Dill said. But determining where exactly it does originate - and whether each spill comes from the same source - is more difficult to determine, partly because the city’s maps of the storm system are outdated, he said.

“Streets get changed, pipes rerouted. There are always some surprises,” Dill said.

“What’s sitting on top of the ground now is certainly different than it was 20 years ago.”

Dill said the pollution was carried down the pipe by “a fairly good flow of water,” possibly because someone dumped the substance down a storm drain, then flushed it with a hose. Or, it could have been unintentionally flushed into the river by someone washing trucks or cleaning pavement, he said.

Homeowners are frequent offenders, he said.

“This is why we and other people harp on being careful with what you do with things like cleaning solvents,” he said. “This is where they end up, in the river.”

Janssen said he worries about the ducks, as well as the bald eagle he recently saw perched in a nearby tree.

“There’s enough wildlife in the area that one likes to be protective of it,” he said.

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