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Cleanup underway to contain oil spill in Sudbury's Ramsey Lake

Contractors have been deployed to Sudbury’s Ramsey Lake to clean up a residential oil spill that migrated to the lake’s shoreline on Tuesday.

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment estimates 812 litres of fuel spilled from a tank

CBC News ·
Four people wearing hard hats and high visibility construction suits stand on the ice next to a dock, surrounded by orange construction fencing and oil drums
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks says crews have been deployed to clean up an oil spill on Sudbury's Ramsey Lake. (Erik White/CBC)

Contractors have been deployed to Sudbury's Ramsey Lake to clean up a residential oil spill that migrated to the shoreline on Jan. 17.

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks estimates around 812 litres of home heating fuel spilled onto the ground from a storage tank at a property on Gennings Street, near the lake.

While Ramsey Lake is the main source of the city's drinking water, ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler said there is only a low risk to the thousands of people who get their municipal drinking water from the lake. 

"There is a low risk to the David Street water treatment plant intake because the spill happened over two kilometres away," he said in an email to CBC News.

The spill on the property happened on Jan. 14, at which point Public Health Sudbury and Districts notified area residents.

Wheeler said the ministry is aware of six homes that directly draw their drinking water from an area near the spill, and they have all been contacted. 

He said cleanup crews installed absorbent containment booms and pads around the property and near the shoreline.

Wheeler added the ministry does not yet know when the cleanup efforts will be complete. 

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