Campaspe Shire council is working with authorities to contain and clean an oil spill in the Murray River at Echuca.
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The spill occurred on Monday at Riverboat Dock in Echuca after maintenance works by an external contractor to council’s steam display at the Port of Echuca Discovery Centre accidentally caused oil to leak into the river.
Mayor Adrian Weston said staff investigations in the wake of the spill had revealed the source of the spill.
“In draining water from the boiler into the display’s drainage pit, material including oil was forced into the drainage system,” he said.
“The Environment Protection Authority, NSW Roads & Maritime, Country Fire Authority and NSW Fire & Rescue were all notified of the spill, attended Riverboat Dock and prepared an action plan to retain and remove the oil that was in the river.”
Cr Weston said council was informed by a houseboat company of the spill, with council staff investigating and immediately working to stem and isolate further oil going into the river.
Actions to minimise the spread of the oil in the river included containment of water and investigating where the oil was coming from.
A waste disposal contractor was called in to remove the oil from the river and drainage system.
While council has identified the steam display as the potential source, the EPA has taken tests of the oil material to confirm this.
“A licenced plumber, council and the EPA are now working on design changes to the system to ensure an incident of this nature cannot be repeated,” Cr Weston said.
“The Discovery Centre steam display is off-line for repair works for the next two weeks and will not be re-started until council and the EPA are confident appropriate measures to ensure an incident of this nature cannot happen again.”