A septic truck that turned over on the TransCanada Highway yesterday, spilling approximately 1,500 litres of raw sewage north of Victoria, has had no impact to the environment, based on the location, containment and cleanup activities.

Craigflower Creek was not impacted because the creek is approximately one kilometre from the incident site. The nearest water body to the site is Thetis Lake, which is uphill and about half a kilometre away. None of the spilled sewage entered either of these water bodies.

The vehicle was hauling 5,400 litres of sewage when the incident occurred.

Fire crews and the local government's environmental contractors were on-site overseeing the cleanup. All the spilled material has since been cleaned up. The Ministry of Environment will not be referring this incident to the Conservation Officer Service for additional investigation.

Because local responders dealt with the incident, local government may recover costs from the spiller.

Contact:

Suntanu Dalal
Communications
Ministry of Environment
250 387-9745