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Springfield's drinking water unaffected by blast, IEPA says

Posted November 13, 2007 10:00 pm

Chris Wetterich

Officials with City Water, Light and Power and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday reaffirmed the safety of Springfield's drinking water, based on the latest testing.

Mineral oil from a transformer that exploded Saturday night at the Dallman Power Station leaked into Lake Springfield beyond the utility's retention pond, raising contamination concerns.

But there is no contamination, said Jill Watson, a spokeswoman for the IEPA, which has required testing of the raw water in the lake and the treated water twice a day.

"There are no concerns that (the spilled oil) would impact human health," Watson said, adding that there is no evidence any wildlife has been affected, either.

"You're going to find dead fish on any river and any lake," she said. "We didn't see any fish that were stressed or diseased. What would raise concern is a mass fish kill. We didn't see that."

Some foam from the firefighting effort remains on the lake, but it, too, is nothing to be concerned about, Watson said.

Each city fire truck has 15 to 20 gallons of foam - for fighting water-resistant fires - and the fire department's foam truck carries 200 gallons, said CWLP spokeswoman Amber Sabin. Outside sources still had to be tapped to get the 700 gallons necessary to fight the massive fire, she said.

Environmental contractors from three companies are working 24 hours a day to clean up the spill in the area of Spalding Dam, according to CWLP.

Chris Wetterich can be reached at 788-1523 or chris.wetterich@sj-r.com.

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