Salem begins drawing from North Santiam River following fuel spill

Salem is again drawing drinking water from the North Santiam River.

The city shut off its Geren Island water intake Saturday night, following a spill of as much as 11,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline into the river near Idanha Friday night.

It reopened the intake at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, city spokeswoman Heather Dimke said, based on results of samples taken both by the city and by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Salem took water samples Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Geren Island, just below Big Cliff Dam and at Packsaddle County Park in Gates. No gasoline was detected, Dimke said.

The EPA took samples Sunday and Monday at intakes for the Salem, Stayton, Gates and Lyons-Mehama water systems. It also took surface samples on Detroit Lake, and a sample at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Minto Fish Collection Facility intake.

Preliminary results from those samples have come back clean. EPA will take additional samples Wednesday.

The spill happened after a semi-tanker carrying slid on ice near Idanha, overturned and caught fire, killing the driver, 58-year-old Ronald Edward Scurlock of Bend.

Some of the fuel burned off in the fire, but an unknown amount spilled onto the road and into the river.

The highway remains closed between milepost 55, at the east end of Idanha, and Santiam Junction, where Highway 22 and U.S. Highway 20 intersect.

tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/Tracy_Loew

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