“The cause of the derailment is under investigation.”
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) has activated its Emergency Operations Centre in response to the derailment.
“TNRD staff, along with the Ministry of Environment and Interior Health, are closely monitoring the situation while CPKC works to clean up and contain this incident,” the TNRD said in a statement Sunday.
The TNRD also said there is no anticipated risk to the Savona water system, which it operates. Should that change, updates will go directly to residents via Voyent Alert.
“There are other privately-owned domestic water systems that use Kamloops Lake as an intake, including Tobiano,” the TNRD statement added. “Private water system providers are working with Interior Health to assess potential impacts [but] if you have questions contact your water system provider.”
According to the province, a Sunday morning coordination call was held with CPKC, the TNRD, Skeetchestn First Nation, Interior Health, First Nations Health Authority, the Environmental Emergency Branch, the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, and unspecified federal government ministries.
“First thing this morning, of course, as soon as it got daylight, there was an opportunity to get out there and do an assessment of the site,” Barbara Roden, the chair of the TNRD, told Global News.
TNRD Area ‘J’ Director Michael Grenier told CFJC that the regional district is in contact with CPKC and the Provincial Government to ensure that residents get the most accurate information.
“We are very much waiting for the updates from CPKC as to how they’re progressing with this cleanup,” Grenier said. “We don’t want to speculate while we get information to people as quickly as we can.”
“Our first concerns were about life and the well-being of our residents. As we were able to establish that there was no threat or injuries, now the concerns go to the water intakes.”
The latest updates from the B.C. Ministry of Environment can be found here.