Emergency Cleanup Over At McDavid Train Derailment Site, Long-Term Monitoring Begins

March 20, 2014

The emergency cleanup from a January train derailment in McDavid has ended and the work focus has shifted to long term environmental concerns. And,  Wednesday, the Escambia County Health Department rescinded their health alert for Fletcher Creek.

On January 28, during a rare ice storm, 23 cars from a CSX train derailed behind the McDavid Sawmill on Champion Drive. Four cars containing  a 96 percent concentration phosphoric acid derailed into Fletcher Creek which feeds into Cotton Lake and the Escambia River. Three of the cars were breached, one catastrophically. Officials reported as much as 30,000 gallons of corrosive acid spilled into the creek.

The rail cars and the acid that remained in them, impacted water contained during cleanup and impacted soil have all been removed from the site, according to Brandy Smith, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Environmental Management.  A long-term monitoring plan has been implemented and will continue through at least March 2015, with numerous locations in Fletcher Creek, Cotton Lake and the Escambia River automatically checked for pH and phosphorous levels.

About 300 fish died in the first two days after the derailment from the high acid concentration, but now acid levels are back near normal.

“The pH levels have returned to normal. Phosphorus is slightly elevated and trending downward,” Smith said Wednesday. “At the end of the one year monitoring period, data will be evaluated to determine if Fletcher Creek and Cotton Lake concentrations have returned to levels consistent with background measurements and reasonably expected not to cause an imbalance in natural populations of aquatic flora or fauna.”

Wetland restoration work at the site, such as stream contouring and planting of native species, is continuing.

Phosphoric acid is used in fertilizer production, pharmaceuticals, detergents, food products, beverages and other products.

Pictured top: A train derailment with tanker cars into Fletcher Creek near McDavid. Pictured inset: Phosphoric acid in Fletcher Creek.

Above: The creek bed restoration on the east side of the derailment site.

Above: A breached rail car. Photo taken February 1.

Above. Neutralization and agitation of phosphoric acid. Photo taken February 5.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News