Deep beneath the streets of Oistins crews with shovels are pulling out sand, debris and oil-soaked material from a drainage system that tells a deeper story of the extent of Friday’s oil spill.
Minister of Energy Senator Lisa Cummins onsite yesterday where a thousand barrels of spilled crude oil had disrupted life in Oistins, described the painstaking underground operation that revealed the true scope of the challenge in the clean-up effort.
“What you would not have seen until now is what would have gone down through the drains and would be in the draining system underneath,” Cummins explained.
“So having taken everything from above the surface, we’re now concentrating the clean-up effort on what is underneath the surface.”
The underground phase has revealed an unexpected complication: Oistins’ seaside location means sand has accumulated and compacted in the drainage system over time, creating barriers that prevent oil from flowing through naturally. This discovery has forced clean-up crews to adopt a more intensive approach, the minister said.
“Once there is sand, it means that the sand has compacted and the oil can’t pass through it. So as a result of that, we’re taking all of the sand out.”
The operation involves teams working underground with shovels, manually extracting sand and debris from clogged drains while the drainage division opens up blocked passages. Once this phase is complete, crews will power-wash the entire underground drainage system using highpressure
seawater hoses. The contaminated water will be flushed through to the marine outflow, where specialised tanks positioned strategically will extract it for proper disposal at Woodbourne. The process aims to leave completely clear and fully flushed underground drains.
However, officials remain tight-lipped about what caused the spill in the first place.
Cummins acknowledged that “the investigation is still undergoing and there’s a parallel team that is focusing on how that happened,” but emphasised that the priority remains the clean-up effort.
“I expect that within another couple of days we’ll be able to see a full report as to what exactly caused this to happen,” she said.
Cummins also acknowledged the toll the intensive clean-up has taken on workers, noting that the Government has provided meals and enforced rest periods for crews who have worked exhausting shifts since Friday.
“The amount of effort that this has required means that we will have to put some effort equally into making sure that something like this never ever happens again,” Cummins said. (DDS)
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