Spook Creek, hydrocarbons:
Spook Creek emerges from what appears to be a number of discrete ground water sources in Baxter's Gulch, immediately below the Alaska Highway. Storm water runoff from Whitehorse Airport also reports into the gulch. During the construction of the Alaska Highway the US Military had a camp set up in this location for personnel of Afro-American decent, hence the derogatory reference. There remains evidence in the gulch of a large disturbance to the land and there are a number of locations where old fuel barrel stick out of the ground, as well other material strewn about (tires, small building in the creek, etc,). A number of issues have been raised over the years concerning water quality in Spook Creek, Baxter's Gulch and the backwater slough of the Yukon River where the creek drains into.
Tank Farm Hydrocarbons: Directly upslope and across the highway is the former Whitehorse Tank Farm, which was the terminus of a fuel pipeline from Skagway to Whitehorse. The site is contaminated with hydrocarbons and there have been various levels of monitoring and remediation over the years. The surface of the site has been remediated to approximately 3m though further remediation is required at depths below 3m (Ruth Hall pers. comm.) Reports contained at the National Energy Board website (https:/ /www.neb-one.gc.ca/lleng/ livel ink. exe?func=llftobj Id=92808ftobjAction=browseftsort=name), maintain that contamination has been documented at 30m and that during one investigation the product layer was found to be .57m thick.
Golder Associates Ltd, consultants for Yukon Pipelines Ltd, which is the owner of the site along with17077 Yukon Inc., have advocated via their Plan Of Restoration (POR) that the contamination at depth be "managed in place" utilizing a technique termed "monitored natural attenuation" which amounts to sampling, sometimes once a year, at locations which are questionable as to their efficacy in providing accurate data, and seeing if nature is taking care of the problem. In May of 2008 local school groups obtained a grab sample from one of the ground water
sources of Spook Creek (Appendix A- Lot 619234) in Baxter's Gulch which indicated the presence of hydrocarbons though below Contaminated Site Regulations (CSR) standards. The exact location of the sample site was not recorded. (From a report perpared by: An inspection/investigation of Spook Creek/ Baxter's Gulch was conducted by Water Inspection Officers Peter Zurachenko and Shannon Jensen, Manager of Standards and Approvals Section.)
In May 2008, four ES 11 students along with Bob Sharp took water samples at three locations where the spring outlets emerged from the ground. These samples were taken in the flasks provided by Water Resources and were taken in accordance with the process for sampling outlined by Water Resources. These samples were then shipped to Northwest labs for analysis. These analysis were then posted on the Yukon Envirothon website. The process was repeted in 2009 and samples were sent to Bodycote labs for analysis. Both analysis showed hydorcarbons present in the spring water in the order of one part per thousand.
Spook Creek emerges from what appears to be a number of discrete ground water sources in Baxter's Gulch, immediately below the Alaska Highway. Storm water runoff from Whitehorse Airport also reports into the gulch. During the construction of the Alaska Highway the US Military had a camp set up in this location for personnel of Afro-American decent, hence the derogatory reference. There remains evidence in the gulch of a large disturbance to the land and there are a number of locations where old fuel barrel stick out of the ground, as well other material strewn about (tires, small building in the creek, etc,). A number of issues have been raised over the years concerning water quality in Spook Creek, Baxter's Gulch and the backwater slough of the Yukon River where the creek drains into.
Tank Farm Hydrocarbons: Directly upslope and across the highway is the former Whitehorse Tank Farm, which was the terminus of a fuel pipeline from Skagway to Whitehorse. The site is contaminated with hydrocarbons and there have been various levels of monitoring and remediation over the years. The surface of the site has been remediated to approximately 3m though further remediation is required at depths below 3m (Ruth Hall pers. comm.) Reports contained at the National Energy Board website (https:/ /www.neb-one.gc.ca/lleng/ livel ink. exe?func=llftobj Id=92808ftobjAction=browseftsort=name), maintain that contamination has been documented at 30m and that during one investigation the product layer was found to be .57m thick.
Golder Associates Ltd, consultants for Yukon Pipelines Ltd, which is the owner of the site along with17077 Yukon Inc., have advocated via their Plan Of Restoration (POR) that the contamination at depth be "managed in place" utilizing a technique termed "monitored natural attenuation" which amounts to sampling, sometimes once a year, at locations which are questionable as to their efficacy in providing accurate data, and seeing if nature is taking care of the problem. In May of 2008 local school groups obtained a grab sample from one of the ground water
sources of Spook Creek (Appendix A- Lot 619234) in Baxter's Gulch which indicated the presence of hydrocarbons though below Contaminated Site Regulations (CSR) standards. The exact location of the sample site was not recorded. (From a report perpared by: An inspection/investigation of Spook Creek/ Baxter's Gulch was conducted by Water Inspection Officers Peter Zurachenko and Shannon Jensen, Manager of Standards and Approvals Section.)
In May 2008, four ES 11 students along with Bob Sharp took water samples at three locations where the spring outlets emerged from the ground. These samples were taken in the flasks provided by Water Resources and were taken in accordance with the process for sampling outlined by Water Resources. These samples were then shipped to Northwest labs for analysis. These analysis were then posted on the Yukon Envirothon website. The process was repeted in 2009 and samples were sent to Bodycote labs for analysis. Both analysis showed hydorcarbons present in the spring water in the order of one part per thousand.