BILLINGS— The City of Billings and Billings Fire Department responded to multiple calls reporting an oily sheen on two Billings waterways Thursday.
The waterways are the city and county drains along King Avenue East and the Yegen Ditch, near the downtown post office.
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Derick Miller, Billings' street and traffic superintendent, said the sheen in the King Avenue East drain is likely the result of oily road runoff.
“Sometimes when we get a little bit of moisture, it'll wash some of that oil from the roadway from all your leaking vehicles and… get down into that storm sewer system as well. And we're anticipating that's what that sheen was yesterday," Miller said Friday afternoon.
Miller said the contamination in the Yegen Ditch was likely a result of oily buildup in a storm sewer pipe getting released. He said the city had been clearing tree roots out of a sewer line, which could have released the buildup.
“The product was getting trapped in there, so that was building up upstream. We jetted the line, we've got a jet nozzle that goes through 80 gallons a minute, 2,500 PSI of pressure going through… and then that freed that sediment and oil buildup that had built up,” said Miller.
The original source of the oil is unconfirmed. The city is sending it out to a lab to confirm the content of the sheen.
“We're not sure where the oil is coming from. It was just being washed down from the storms and inlet drains,” added Miller.
According to Billings Fire Battalion Chief Jason Lyon, the oil has been contained and does not pose danger to the community as of Friday afternoon.
“What I want to stress is there's no danger to the community right now. None of the water from that initial incident reached the Yellowstone, and it was below the freshwater intake to the city's water supply and treatment center,” said Lyon.
CIty crews and firefighters laid several oil-absorbent booms (pictured above) in the Yegen Ditch and a few in the King Avenue East drain.
“Crews are going down there periodically to rotate and replace boom as it becomes saturated,” said Lyon.
