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A popular off-leash dog park in Anchorage reopened Tuesday after a fuel spill in its lake prompted the park to close for nearly two weeks.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation also said Tuesday there was likely more fuel spilled into University Lake than the 20 gallons that was initially estimated.
Authorities believe a fuel vault storing No. 2 heating oil in a concrete structure under the east parking lot of the Alaska Native Medical Center campus flooded amid heavy rainfall last month and spilled into the municipal drainage system it is connected to, said Kelly Rawalt, a spokeswoman for the DEC. The vault holds up to 50,000 gallons of fuel, she said. A device that filters oil from water in the drainage system malfunctioned and the fuel released into the lake, according to Rawalt. The spill was first reported on June 21 and the park closed on June 28 as the spill grew.
An estimated 294 gallons of fuel is unaccounted for from the fuel vault, although it is unclear how much of that was captured by the municipality’s filtering system, Rawalt said. The device contained a large amount of fuel when it was emptied by the municipality, she said.
The Department of Environmental Conservation worked with the municipality and the Environmental Protection Agency to respond to the spill and track its source.
Crews previously vacuumed oil from the top of the water, collected impacted vegetation and used a skimmer device to filter the lake. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep animals away from the polluted area.
UPDATE: The University Lake Dog Park is now open to the public! The sheen is still contained to a small area of the lake where responders continue to maintain absorbents and fencing to recover the sheen that is left. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/OdRUZFTMSs
— Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (@AlaskaDEC) July 11, 2023
Cleanup efforts were ongoing Tuesday, although the spill is now contained to a much smaller area, Rawalt said.
An orange fence surrounded the spill area and a boom barrier remained in the lake to keep the oil from spreading. Absorption sheets were placed throughout the area to collect the thin sheen of oil that remained on the surface, Rawalt said.
Although the city reopened the park, Rawalt said people should avoid the area immediately surrounding the spill. Officials from the responding agencies will continue to monitor the spill daily as cleanup efforts continue, she said.