Regional Public Journalism
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Water Treatment Center Damaged In Gorge Oil Train Fire

As information about Friday’s oil train derailment in Mosier, Oregon, trickled in, officials did not immediately offer any information on the condition of the city’s water system.

But according to a press release Sunday, investigators discovered Mosier’s “waste water treatment plant and [the city’s] sewer lines are now non-operational as a result of damage from the train derailment.”

During a press conference the day before, Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill explained that firefighters used city water combat a blaze that erupted from overturned oil tanker car. As a result, residents are now drawing water from an old well that has not recently been tested.

“They just put a boil order on for the citizens, just to make sure they were safe,” Magill said.

In fact, a boil water notice hung on the door of the local school, where a makeshift incident response center is set up.

Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality expects results from the water in the back-up well sometime Monday. Officials have not reported any drinking water contamination as a result of the oil spill.

Crews worked through the weekend to offload oil from tanker cars and remove damaged train cars by flatbed trucks.