Hazardous Material Spill Response

Ski Area Spill Response

In the Fall of 2003, an independent spill response and cleanup action was conducted at a local ski area in Western Washington. The spill response and cleanup action was initiated following the discovery of a release of diesel petroleum product from an above ground storage tank located at the base of a chairlift.  The spill impacted soil and a small volume of fuel entered a creek. The initial spill response involved the construction of temporary underflow weirs and dams in the creeks. The weirs and dams trapped floating diesel sheen which was recovered with absorbent pads.

Diesel fuel was observed seeping from the ground at several locations downslope of the spill location. The diesel seeps were excavated in order to create sumps to capture diesel at those locations.  Absorbent pads and a vacuum truck were used to recover diesel from the sumps. The sumps effectively cut off the flow of diesel to the ground surface and the adjacent creek.

Several test pits were excavated at areas downslope of the chairlift storage tank in order to delineate the extent of diesel migration in the fill material at the site. The test pits revealed that diesel had migrated along limited flow paths in the fill material.  Due to the limited extent of soil contamination discovered in the test pits, and due to weather controlled time constraints, the decision was made to construct product recovery trenches at the locations of the two diesel seeps. The two recovery trenches consist of a vertical standing slotted steel pipe connected to horizontal running 6 inch diameter perforated drain pipes.

Approximately 424 tons of PCS were excavated and hauled offsite for treatment and disposal.  The product recovery system will be examined after the winter to determine the effectiveness of the cleanup.

All data collected from the site were integrated into a GIS for analysis and production of site maps.

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