Update: Read the Town of Carbondale’s official press release, sent at 5:15pm on Aug. 8, here.
Around 8pm on Monday, Aug. 7, members of the public noticed a strong odor emanating from near the southern River Valley Ranch bridge over the Crystal River. Less than two weeks before, work had begun in the river as part of the Crystal River Restoration project funded by the Town of Carbondale, Aspen Valley Land Trust, Pitkin County Healthy Rivers, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Colorado Water Conservation Board, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Colorado River District, Colorado Healthy Rivers Fund and Great Outdoor Colorado.
The Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District soon arrived on the scene and verified a visible oily sheen on the surface of the river traveling downstream. Precautions were taken by the contractor, Dave Meyer, to contain the spill of an estimated 5-15 gallons of diesel fuel, and Ecos Environmental and Disaster Restoration arrived by 11pm to further contain the spill. The State of Colorado was promptly contacted by Meyer to report what had happened.
Ecos returned at 9am on Tuesday, Aug. 8, to take soil and water samples and to clean up at the location of the spill while a Colorado Parks & Wildlife representative floated the river to assess for downstream impacts. The Sopris Sun was informed that the Town of Carbondale will soon issue a press release with further details on the incident.