Water tanker truck rolls over in Alba area Spills 1,600 gallons of recycled water

BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN (Staff Writer)
Published: August 8, 2011

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Two people were sent to local hospitals after a water tanker truck rolled over Sunday on state Route 14 near Alba, spilling 1,600 gallons of recycled water from gas drilling operations, authorities said.

The driver of the truck had "severe injuries" and firefighters had to use emergency rescue tools to remove him from the truck, said Kim Jennings, Canton fire chief.

Bradford County Public safety Director Robert Barnes also said that, based on what he had been told, the driver of the tanker truck had "significant injuries" in the accident, which occurred at 4:50 a.m. Sunday.

However, Drew Wright, who serves as the operations manager for Principal Enterprises LLC of Canton, the company that operated the tanker truck, said Sunday afternoon that the driver of the tanker truck "is in good shape."

"He is improving by the minute," Wright said.

The driver of the tanker truck was transported by ambulance to Troy Community Hospital, Jennings said. He was then transferred to Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Wright said.

The tanker truck, which was a tractor-trailer type vehicle, was traveling north on Route 14 when it traveled across the southbound lane, left the roadway, struck an embankment and overturned, Barnes said.

A short time after the truck rolled over, a car that was traveling south on Route 14 struck the trailer portion of the tanker truck, which had come to rest in the roadway, Barnes said.

The conditions were "foggy and dark" at the time, Barnes said. The driver of the car "just didn't see" the trailer in the roadway, he said.

The driver of the car was also transported to Troy Community Hospital, Jennings said.

Barnes said he did not know why the tanker truck went off the roadway.

Water spilled

The water in the tanker truck had originally been used in developing gas wells, and was later transported to a facility, where it had been treated, according to Barnes.

The water was being transported from the water treatment facility to a gas well site operated by Talisman Energy USA, where it was going to be used for further hydraulic fracturing of gas wells, Barnes said.

Employees of the state Department of Environmental Protection were called to the scene of the accident, and they tested the water that the truck was carrying, Barnes said.

Based on the test results, there was "no saline" in the truck, and the water that spilled contained "no chemical contaminant," Barnes said.

"So it (the water) had been treated well and properly," Barnes said.

No cleanup measures are planned for the ground that was impacted by the spill, he said.

However, there are two short areas of ditch, totaling approximately 25 to 50 feet, from which Talisman Energy will skim off soil, because it contains motor oil and hydraulic fluid from the truck itself, he said.

Barnes said he did not know where the treatment facility was located.

Jennings said the truck was coming from Williamsport.

Identities

Barnes said he did not know name of the driver of the water tanker truck.

The Canton fire chief said he knew the name of the tanker truck driver, but could not release it, due to medical privacy regulations.

Wright of Principal Enterprises said the driver of the tanker truck is from Bradford County, However, Wright declined to release his name because some of the driver's relatives may not have been notified yet of the accident.

Chief Jennings said he did not know the name of the driver of the car.

No information about the accident was available Sunday from the state police, who investigated the accident.

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com

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