Quai d'Amont, 9:30 am. In front of the PMU, at the corner of rue du Beauvoisis, passers-by all have the same reflex: take out the phone and take a photo of the Oise with rainbow reflections. Since 7:50 am already, the district is agitated. Police, firefighters and the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) are on the scene: the river is polluted.
"We woke up with the smell of gasoline in the house, it was unbearable", comments a father. As they walk along the shore, the morning runners hide their noses in their elbows, because “strong scents of gasoline or fuel oil”, comments a passer-by, prevent them from breathing. "This is not the first time that the Oise has been polluted here, but there it smells very strongly", continues a resident of the district.
At 9:30 am, the firefighters are still at the dock, the nautical service divers boat is in the water, the engine is running, ready to cross the river. Photos of the iridescent Oise abound on social networks. "There are also up to the Quai d'Aval", comments one Internet user.
[#INTERVENTION] Aquatic pollution 🚒 🚨This Friday morning, from 7:50 am, significant human, material and ...
Gepostet von SDIS de l'Oise (Official page of the Oise firefighters / SDIS 60) am Freitag, 14. August 2020Creil, Nogent-sur-Oise and Verneuil-sur-Halatte are the three municipalities affected by this phenomenon of aquatic pollution. "We only saw the iridescence of the water on the shores", nevertheless wishes to clarify Philippe Kellner, the mayor of Verneuil. In total, the traces of hydrocarbons extended "over 4 km on both shores between the Vaux area and the island of Saint-Maurice", reveals the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS).
In memory, significant pollution in 2018
Several hypotheses are then heard on the banks of the Oise. Still on Quai d'Amont, as the divers' boat and the reconnaissance and rescue boat set sail, curious people share their thoughts.
“It could come from a barge, thinks this man in his sixties, a problem with the reservoir maybe. "Beside him, another, younger, leans, him, for" a problem of piping in one of the companies, "he said, pointing to the industrial area of Verneuil-en-Halatte.
This has already happened in the summer of 2018. Following severe weather, a problem with the disgorging of the pipe had resulted in the spill of oil in the Oise, from a company on avenue du Tremblay. At the end of the morning, the mayor of Creil announced that “it would be an accidental leak” in the Vaux area, but insisted on the conditional.
A deployed drone
It is also on this second hypothesis that the firefighters will quickly focus. After several trips back and forth on the Oise in search of the leak, and eddies in the water to identify the trajectory of the oil slick, the boats set off for the Vaux area.
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At the same time, vehicles screened in the colors of various authorities continue their incessant ballet on either side of the downtown bridge, and a drone is deployed for the occasion, sweeping the area.
At 11 am, the Suez company, which is involved in the collection and treatment of wastewater and rainwater, flood management and the protection of natural environments, and located 300 meters from the river, intervenes in turn, to “ three missions, ”explains Clément Ritter, communications director of Suez Nord-Est.
The first, "find the leak using a smoke injection system", then "deploy a floating boom" before requisitioning a "water pump to pump specific liquids", such as hydrocarbons.
Smoke injected into the pipes to locate the leak
“They were very effective,” congratulates Jacky Doublet, member of the Oise Fishing Federation. He witnessed Suez's intervention, look after look, company after company, along the left bank. Until the hoped-for find, at “12.12 pm precisely,” underlines a lieutenant of the firefighters.
"They injected a kind of smoke into a pipe, it was pierced, the smoke came out from another place, it shows that there was a problem", continues Jacky Doublet. On equipment normally used to filter the water entering the river. Probably because of thunderstorms, it failed ...
2,500 liters of hydrocarbon were pumped
Once the source of the pollution had been identified, Suez deployed a floating tube to contain the liquids that still came out of this manhole, while waiting for the water sewer truck. “It was 50 km away, we waited an hour,” says Clément Ritter. Once there, he then pumped a total of “2,500 liters of oil for three hours,” he adds.
End of the operation at 3:30 p.m. The firefighters leave the scene, the town of Creil communicates on the success of the intervention. But residents and associations are worried about the flora and fauna. "I saw oiled swans and ducks", testifies a woman, Quai d'Aval. “We have not observed any fish mortality but we will be careful in the coming days,” adds the Oise Fishing Federation.
An investigation is underway to confirm the accidental nature of this leak. “There will surely be a complaint and a procedure, concludes Jacky Doublet, but as often, this one will certainly be closed without follow-up. "