Stettler has been cleared to draw from the Red Deer River after a diesel spill forced the town to use its stored water supply.
Melissa Robbins, the town’s director of operations, said the municipality was given the green light on Monday morning.
“They tested the water and all the results came back clear,” said Robbins.
The municipality’s regional water treatment plant has systems in place including outdoor water storage water ponds to avoid from the river, if necessary, for this exact reason said Robbins.
“In the spring we don’t pull water from the river when the river breaks up because we don’t want the turbidity and the high colour to come into our plant,” she said. “We do at times of the year when we get large storms, we do switch off the river and treat from our storage ponds until we get nice river water again and we treat right from the river.”
On June 9 a tanker truck carrying diesel rolled on Hwy 21, near Content Bridge, and spilled 25,000 litres of diesel into a stream, which feeds into the Red Deer River.
As a precaution, the town switched to stored water while tests were conducted on the water. One duck was captured and transferred to a wildlife treatment centre.
Surface water and soil sampling are being conducted and on the Red Deer River, according to Alberta Environment and Parks.
The contaminated soil has been excavated and disposed at an approved facility.