A trail derailment east of Blackfalds has caused one Red Deer city councillor to question whether there are enough safety measures to protect Red Deer’s water supply.
On Sept. 11, five Canadian National rail tank cars derailed in a field near Blackfalds, causing one tank to leak propane.
Buck Buchanan said the recent incident highlights the risk of a potential train derailment that could contaminate the Red Deer River. He added that the perceived risk of an environmental disaster is increased by the location of the city’s water intake into Red Deer’s water treatment plant.
If he receives support from council on Oct. 4, he would like the City of Red Deer to work on various measures. They include getting listings of chemicals that come by train near the Red Deer River, and further ensuring emergency and business continuity plans deal with chemicals entering the river.
He’d also like to see the city examine options for installing emergency shutoff valves for the city’s water intake to reduce contamination risk to Red Deer’s drinking water. Buchanan wants the city to examine alternatives for water intake such as installing holding tanks.
He would like a report within four months.
Buchanan said he spoke with an environmental expert and train enthusiast who suggested that Red Deer is “a little bit vulnerable” because of where the water intake and the train bridge are located over Hwy 2. The bridge is up river of the water intake, he said.
“We could end up into a situation with a derailment, possibly with cars into the river, which would then consequently contaminate the river, which would then leave us all in a vulnerable position,” said Buchanan, who raised the issue at the end of Monday’s council meeting.
When asked why this issue hasn’t been brought forward before, Buchanan replied that “possibly it hasn’t been on people’s radar screens.”
He recently read a news article saying a lot of repairs need to be done on trains.
“I want to make sure that we do have some plan in place,” he said.
Environmental Services manager Tom Warder said on Tuesday that he would like to review Buchanan’s request and talk to the politician about it. He added the city does have some systems in place for protecting Red Deer’s water supply.
“We could shut the pumps off fairly quickly,” said Warder. “We do have water storage at various locations within the city, so we do have a supply of water if we had to shut off the supply from the river for a period of time.”
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com