A “precautionary” advisory remains in effect, telling people to avoid contact with some local waters due to potential contamination from the Nov. 4 UPS plane crash, according to the head of Louisville’s Metropolitan Sewer District.
MSD executive director Tony Parrott said Monday that people should especially avoid contact with Pond Creek, Northern Ditch and Southern Ditch, which are the waterways mainly affected by runoff from the crash site.
“We ask folks to avoid touching, swimming, fishing or kayaking or interacting in those waterways in any fashion, and keep your pets away from the water as well,” he said at a press conference.
MSD and other organizations are working together to monitor for and clean up oil and other contaminants that spread to local waters from the explosive UPS plane crash, which officials say killed 14 people.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Monday that MSD’s fast action right after the accident prevented “an even worse catastrophe.”
Not only did the UPS plane have 220,000 pounds of jet fuel on board, but the airliner hit a petroleum recycling operation. An online notice from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the recycler had about “226,000 gallons of used motor oil and 37,000 gallons of oil-water-antifreeze mix” on-site.
“In some places where the crash occurred, oil was two, three or more feet deep at the time,” Greenberg said at Monday’s press conference. “UPS has brought in a contractor to work with the EPA, work with MSD, to make sure that the entire site is cleaned up. But even before they got onto the scene, MSD was there.”
“They have helped stop 30,000 gallons of oil from going into our groundwater,” Greenberg said of MSD.
As of Monday, the EPA said they’re still monitoring surface waters, starting at Salt River and heading upstream, and “crews have recovered more than 286,000 gallons of oil-water mix” that came from the crash site.
“Notably, oil was originally present in about a 4.5-mile stretch, and this has been reduced to a sheen in about three miles with pooled oil present in the first half-mile closest to the incident site,” the EPA notice said.
After a UPS cargo plane went down during takeoff late Tuesday afternoon, Parrott said MSD quickly deployed “floating booms that absorb oil” to vulnerable waterways.
He also said the morning after the crash, they learned a nearby drainage basin was affected by runoff from the accident and isolated it. He said that kept the contaminants collected there from spreading into nearby waterways.
Local officials say residents can safely drink their public tap water unless they’ve been contacted directly by Louisville Water Co. with a safety advisory.
People can report any oil, debris or discoloration they see in local waters to MSD by calling 502-540-6000 or emailing customerrelations@louisvillemsd.org.
