Subject: Tony Tank Drinking Water Safe
To: The Campus Community
From: Richard Culver, Media Relations Director
Cleanup and recovery efforts are continuing for a pollution spill in Tony Tank Creek near campus. Drinking water and wells in the surrounding area are not threatened, according to the Wicomico County Health Department and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).
Salisbury University last night discovered a mechanical failure in the fuel line leading to an emergency generator at Henson Science Hall, causing a loss of approximately 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel from the fuel tank. Some of the fuel leaked into SU's storm drainage system, which flows into Tony Tank Creek.
A unified command was quickly established with the Coast Guard and representatives from SU, MDE, the Salisbury Fire Department and Wicomico County Emergency Management.
More than 1,000 feet of containment boom was placed between the Camden Avenue Bridge and the Riverside Drive Bridge to contain the spill. According to reports, over 600 gallons of diesel fuel have been recovered from the creek so far by the Miller Environmental Group.
"This operation is a fine example of our partnership among federal, state and local agencies along with the private sector," said Cmdr. Austin Gould, the acting sector commander of Coast Guard Sector Baltimore. "Together, we're working to eliminate an environmental threat to the Chesapeake Bay."
“The University appreciates these agencies’ support and leadership that have minimized the impact of this spill on the University, the community and our shared watershed,” said Dr. Tom Jones, SU provost.
For more details on cleanup efforts, please visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu. To report wildlife affected by the spill, please contact the Coast Guard Command Center at 410-576-2525. For those with questions relating to drinking water and wells, the Wicomico County Health Department has asked that calls be directed to the MDE Oil Control Program at 410-537-3443. If you have additional questions, please call the SU Public Relations Office at 410-543-6030.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
12 comments:
The emergency generator would of been dorment would it not? How does something leak when its not running. How old is this tank? I got it, that 4/degree night bit you all @ss, something frooze and split and it took this long to realize it. Ha,Ha, Bad for the eco system. Ice is powerful when it expands. She talks to angels, says they call her by name...
Finally I can agree that SU has tied into the community in a big way,,,,,, by contaminating it. She never mentions the words addiction,,,,in certain company
Anonymous said...
Finally I can agree that SU has tied into the community in a big way,,,,,, by contaminating it. She never mentions the words addiction,,,,in certain company
10:42 PM
Now Bubba Fo Mare has a real connection to the university community and the polluted Wicomico River. You go Bubba!
Emergency generators are supposed to "exercise" once a week, to keep them in shape for immediate starting and running in case of an outage. It could have been running at any time during the week.
But my underlying question right now is how they can assure anyone that the water is "safe" this soon after such an incident? There has not been sufficient time for all the contaminants to seep through the ground to their final destination ....
Doug.
I believe there was a switch that blew, causing the pump to start pumping fuel up to the generator.
DJ
joe, if the college and the city are going to have drainpipes that drain in the river why dont they all have filters. if they did, they wouldnt have had the oil spill. also, how will they clean the pipe itself. sjd
this will be a LONG process. the fuel spill will collect in the storm water drains for months to come. do they know exactly how much has been discharged? she tells you she's an orphan, the you meet her family.
another case of POOR ENGINEERING and STORMWATER DESIGN!!! The City streamlines polution everywhere when they dump untreated stormwater into the Wicomico and it's tributaries. MDE doesn't give a sh!t because if they did, then they would never approve the stormwater designs. The Waverly outfall is another catastrophe waiting to happen. This is much bigger than just 600 gallons-that is only the amount that actually got to the Tony Tank Creek. It doesn't include the amount still in the storm drains.
Treat the water prior to draining into our waterbodies and we won't have these problems. At least if this stormwater drained into a stormwater management pond it could have been contained, ecologically. Prevention and mitigation is much cheaper and easier than recovery...
At least SU took the proactive approach toward the matter.
With the perpetual toxic hatred shown toward almost every, once pristine, source of water down there; I surmise it is only a matter of time before Godzilla comes to shore with a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, and tears your city's high tension wires down. Hopefully Gene Frenkle will sit in on cowbell for the jam.
{Doug et al. ...bravo on the Black Crowes quotes!!}
Reese we dont have to fear Godzilla because we have Ultra-man on the blogg keeping us all aware of the goings on. You dont mess with Ultra-man.
Anonymous said...
At least SU took the proactive approach toward the matter.
9:24 AM
Can you say Damage Control
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