Whittier Oil field, wells along property line of Central Oil company and Murphy Oil company. Looking east. Los Angeles County, California. 1905. Plate 13-A in U.S. Geological Survey. Bulletin 309. 1907.
My expectations of more oil flooding out of the breech in the Gulf seem to have been misplaced, and the ongoing process of sealing the well ("static kill" in the lingo of the trade) seems to be working. Moreover, we are told by the EPA that a large fraction of the oil that gushed from the breech has now dissipated. I hope the EPA statement is true, but I fear in the not too distant future oceanographers of various stripes will find it to have been an over rosy evaluation of what future environmental historians are likely to describe as one of the greatest ecological catastrophes since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Anyway, the effects of the BP spill on fresh water were minimal, and its effects on food supply through the contamination of one of the most important source areas for seafood should be clearer before the food course begins in the Spring.
Petroleum is not out of the water supply picture, however, nor is it likely to be until the age of petroleum ends. A pipeline leak in Michigan has contaminated the Kalamazoo River, a stream flowing into Lake Michigan, the primary water source for Chicago, Milwaukee, and many smaller communities. The Enbridge Spill, named after the pipeline company operating the breeched pipe, has been estimated to have dumped more than 3,755,00 liters (1 million gallons) of crude oil into the river, causing some nearby residents to be evacuated and restrictions to be placed on the use of the river for water supply and recreation. It is lucky that no nearby large town uses the river as its major source of water!
Enbridge Michigan Pipeline and Spill Location
Source: Enbridge Energy
The Enbridge spill has not, as far as we know, killed or even seriously injured anyone. In 1999 a rupture in a gasoline pipeline sent that flammable liquid downstream in Whatcom Creek in the city of Bellingham, Washington. Three youths were killed, two of them while playing with the matches that ignited an immense explosion. The third victim was a recent high school graduate celebrating the arrival of warm weather with a afternoon of fly fishing downstream from the Olympic Pipeline spill at Whatcom Falls Park, probably killed by the fumes before his body was incinerated by the fire. Whatcom Creek flows, partially underground, near the center of Bellingham enroute to Puget Sound. Gasoline entered the city's sewers, and there was a realistic fear that much of the picturesque center of Bellingham would explode in a huge fireball. A number of structures in Bellingham were damaged, and the pumping plant at a sewage treatment facility on Whatcom Creek was all but completely destroyed. Indeed the Bellingham area, often ranked as one of the most desirable places to live in the United States, has an unfortunate relationship to oil and oil pipelines. Earlier this year 7 workers were killed in an explosion at an oil refinery about 50 km away, and since the events of 1999 the city has been on edge each time a spill has been reported, including a large underground one in 2007. Facing one of the most beautiful but also one of the most heavily utilized portions of Puget Sound, the city is also acutely aware of the possibility of a maritime accident, including one in Canadian waters less than 100 km distant, though a May 2010 article in the major Vancouver, BC newspaper thinks tanker leakage is unlikely.
View of smoke from Whatcom Falls Gasoline Spill, 1999
Source: City of Bellingham website
[At home we are suffering a water supply problem! A leaking hot water tank and a malfunctioning shut off valve for that tank means the water to the house is shut off until the plumber can fix it later in the day. Hardly equivalent to even a tiny part of the suffering of that fifth or more of humanity who lack access to adequate water, but it does generate more sympathy for them.]
