On Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control responded to a fuel spill at the Plum Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, across the Ashley River from downtown Charleston. The accident resulted in the release of up to 3,100 gallons of red-dye diesel, and about 80 percent went into nearby marshlands, according to local media.
The responsible party has hired an oil spill response organization, HEPACO, to take care of the cleanup. The firm arrived on scene on Saturday and deployed sorbent pads and hard boom in nearby Dill Creek and Wappoo Creek. The firm also used a vacuum truck to pick up pollutants from the marsh, and it collected about 3,000 gallons of fuel-water mixture over the course of the weekend. The rest of the cleanup is expected to take about one week. Read on.
