Environmental health officials have told residents, living along the Pine River in northeastern B.C., it's now safe to drink the water from their wells.

The river was badly polluted last August when the Pembina oil pipeline broke, spilling a million litres of oil.

Chetwynd Mayor Charlie Lasser says although wells adjacent to the river have been cleared, his community will never resume drawing water directly from the Pine River:

"There are still 80,000 litres of oil that is not accounted for, and it's in there somewhere and we want to find out how much is coming out in this high water," he says. "Our environmental scientists tell us it could be up to ten years before it's absolutely clear."

There has been a ban on river water usage since last summer's spill. Chetwynd has since found other underground water sources.