TTC investigating fuel spill at Queensway Bus Division

The TTC is investigating how diesel fuel leaked out of an underground storage tank at the Queensway Division bus garage in south Etobicoke and into City sewers last Wednesday.

On the morning of Wed, June 6, staff became aware of the leak and immediately worked to isolate the source and repair it. The TTC's investigation includes determining how much fuel was lost.

The TTC immediately notified the Spills Action Centre of the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) as it is required to do. The TTC also notified Toronto Water, all other relevant regulatory agencies and TTC union officials of the incident.

Early indications were that fuel had migrated from TTC property into the City of Toronto storm sewer system. The outfall from the storm sewer system feeds to a storm water holding pond in Colonel Samuel Smith Park.

Toronto Water inspected storm sewer access chambers from Queensway Division on Evans Rd. to the outfall, cleaning up fuel and setting up containment booms in the pond and absorbent booms at the outfall in order to locate and collect any spilled material.

The next day, Toronto Water oversaw the cleaning and flushing of the storm sewer to remove any diesel fuel.

Toronto Water conducted a thorough inspection of the sewer system on June 7, following the cleaning and flushing. There was no evidence of fuel in the sewer system from the TTC yard down to the lake.

Absorbent booms will remain in place at the outfall in Colonel Samuel Smith Park until after the first significant rainfall as a precaution and to assist in ongoing monitoring.

Through these quick actions, any potential threat to public and employee safety was mitigated.

This underground tank is one of the last remaining on TTC property and was scheduled to be removed and replaced with an above ground tank this year.

As a result of this incident, the TTC is conducting a review of all fuel storage tanks and related equipment to ensure all are in working order. A site remediation plan is also being developed. The TTC also conducted extensive cleanup of the storm drainage system on site.

The TTC continues to co-operate fully with the MOECC as it reviews the incident.