By: SUMAYA ABDEL-MOTAGALY
The Supplee Lane Recreation Area reopened July 11 after being closed due to a 6-gallon mineral oil leak.
A Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) transformer in the 16000 block of Supplee Lane in Laurel was knocked over by a tree during a storm July 8, causing the unit’s coolant oil to spill and flow into nearby T. Howard Duckett Reservoir.
According to Lyn Riggins, spokesperson for Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), the quality of drinking water was not impacted by the spill.
“Out of an abundance of caution, treatment modifications were made at the Patuxent Water Filtration Plant and WSSC Water conducted water quality monitoring. The results of all water quality tests were within normal parameters and confirmed no presence of the substance,” Riggins said.
WSSC contacted both BGE and the Maryland Department of the Environment. Crews used oil-absorbing booms to address the spill.
“Response crews contained the oil and removed as much as possible. Water quality tests from samples collected at the spill site showed non-detectable levels of the mineral oil,” Riggins said.