Contents of barrels pulled from Bow appear benign

October 26, 2001
Source: CBC Calgary
Original story - link verified on October 26, 2001

Initial tests on some barrels pulled from the Bow River in downtown Banff show no significant threat to the environment. The 15 barrels were reported to Parks Canada last fall. They were likely there for several decades. This week, divers pulled out three of them for testing. Bill Hunt of Parks Canada says one contained only river water but two others showed trace elements of hydrocarbons. "Samples have been taken from those barrels and sent off to a lab for further analysis but I have to emphasize that they were very, very, trace elements and it would be consistent with what you would expect would be left in the drums if they'd been used up and then used for floatation devices," says Hunt. "There was an old boat house that was in that area and we believe the barrels originated from the dock structures." Hunt says the barrels will be sent to a lab for more testing. If it appears they aren't posing an environmental problem, the rest of the barrels probably won't be recovered from the river until next year.

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