11 January 2009
Water Tests in on Train Spill
Dresbach Minnesota USA - Preliminary water tests are in
after the December train derailment which caused a liquid nitrogen fertilizer mixture to spill into the Mississippi River near
Dresbach.
The tests show that the spill caused elevated levels of nitrogen, ammonia, and diesel range organics. But the Minnesota Department of
Agriculture's Incident Response Unit Supervisor Cathy Villas-Horns said levels did not exceed the Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency's standards.
"There was a little bit of elevated nitrate in the river right at the release location," said Villas-Horns,
"but that decreased downstream to background levels."
Initial data shows that first nitrate measurements on the day after the spill jumped to about three times their normal upstream
baseline content to about 3.68 parts per million (PPM). The Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) levels at the site of the leaking train cars
also rose on 18 Dec 2008, jumping to about six times their normal background levels to 6.21 PPM.
Diesel range organics, oil, and grease measurements also jumped at the site of the spill on 18 Dec 2008. But
Villas-Horns said that levels are all within allowable ranges, and that representatives from the Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) and the Canadian Pacific Rail have decided to cease water monitoring of the spill.
Initial reports that there has been no evidence of a fish kill with the spill have continued, although it can be hard to tell in the
icy winter months. Villas-Horns said that the DNR asked Lock and Dam 7 operators to be on the lookout for dead fish, and
also asked some people fishing downstream if they'd seen any, and no fish kill data was found.
Now, state officials are waiting for final water samples to be calculated and for sediment samples to be analyzed for contamination
around the site. Investigations from CP Rail and the Federal Railroad Administration on the cause of the collision and derailment are
expected to take months.
The 26 derailed train cars, along with the locomotives and two tanker cars that slid into the river, have been removed. Work has been
done to remove liquid nitrogen fertilizer which spilled into a nearby ditch from a third car which also leaked the chemicals. Response
team workers have worked to skim diesel and fertilizers from the river in the days after the spill. And now, as water levels have
returned to normal near the site, anything that may have been left from the December train collision has been washed
downstream.
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