Drinking water not impacted by fuel spill in Parley’s Creek, officials said
Apr 25, 2024, 11:26 AM | Updated: 8:42 pm
Absorbent booms tackle the job of clearing a fuel spill after an accident in Parleys Canyon on Thursday morning. (Salt Lake County Health Department)
(Salt Lake County Health Department)
SALT LAKE CITY — By Thursday afternoon, the Salt Lake City Fire Department had completed its work with a fuel spill that originated in Parleys Canyon on Thursday morning, and had “turned the event over” to the Salt Lake County Health Department.
In a post on X, fire officials said the health department would continue cleanup efforts.
Parleys Creek fuel spill update #2. SLCFD crews have turned over this event to the Salt Lake County Health Department. They will continue the cleanup efforts and determine when the waterway is deemed free of any hazard.
— Salt Lake City Fire Department (@slcfire) April 25, 2024
“People and pets are (are advised) to stay out of potentially affected waterways until water sampling results are available,” said the Salt Lake County Health Department.
That department also confirmed that the spill “occurred below Parleys Water Treatment Plant.” The spill did not impact drinking water according to the email from the health department.
Waterways potentially affected by the spill
Absorbent booms are in place in the waterways of Tanner dog park, Sugar House Park, and Hidden Hollow Park the health department said. The booms are used to collect “as much fuel as possible.”
By Thursday night, the amount of fuel that was spilled was unknown, although the truck that rolled in an accident was carrying as much as 180 gallons of fuel.
The Salt Lake County Health Department credited early action by its staff for capturing fuel that remained on the highway.
The crash that caused the spill
The accident near East Canyon took place around 4 a.m. Thursday. A semi-truck was heading westbound on I-80 when it lost control on the wet road. The truck jackknifed and crashed, displacing several concrete barriers.
Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Cam Roden told KSL that the crash ruptured the truck’s fuel tanks. Diesel fuel spilled onto the road and then into storm drains.
SLCFD is on scene of a fuel spill into Parleys Creek. We have units at Tanner Park as well as Sugarhouse Park working to mitigate the incident. PIO is on scene. Media staging will be at Sugarhouse Park. Please keep your animals out of Parleys Creek for the foreseeable future. pic.twitter.com/mIP4PWHN0c
— Salt Lake City Fire Department (@slcfire) April 25, 2024
Later, Capt. Brandt Hancuff with Salt Lake City Fire Department updated the potential fuel spill estimate. Hancuff said as many as 200 gallons of fuel spilled into storm drains.
“That has since made its way into Parley’s Creek. We had been made aware of it from individuals at Tanner’s Park, where they first smelled it and saw the sheen on the water,” Hancuff said.
In a post on X, Salt Lake City Fire urged those with pets to keep them out of Parleys Creek “for the foreseeable future.” Roden said that the environmental cleanup of the Parleys fuel spill will continue through much of Thursday.
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