Plans have been advanced to contain and recover floating oil spreading underground at Canatara Park in order to prevent an environmental emergency.
Sarnia council approved a $300,000 transfer to the former Michigan Avenue Landfill remediation project Monday, that was originally included in the 2022 draft budget.
Recent site monitoring identified an area of immediate concern, and steel sheet pile walls will be upgraded in the Lake Chipican area, while new ones are installed and soil is removed in the former Canada Lands Commission property starting in November.
The urgency gave councillor Brian White an unsettling flashback.
"I can't help when I read this to start thinking about Centennial Park all over again, and again I know I wasn't around on council when that started, I'm very hopeful that these measures will work," said White.
Engineering and Operations General Manager David Jackson said he couldn't provide any details, with confidence, in respect to how long the containment will be effective, or if further action will be required in the future.
"Our theory with what's happened now is mainly related to the high water levels, so we are hopeful as the water levels go down that it would stabilize the site and best case scenario we don't have anything for ten or 20 years," said Jackson.
But, he admitted, even his theory is really hard to predict.
"The only reference we have is it's been eight or nine years since we did anything of this similar range and then about 20 years since we did anything more significant."
If council opted for full site remediation, the cost to excavate down 2.5 metres, across 12 hectares, and have the material trucked away and disposed of is estimated at $41 million.
Floating oil was also identified along Michigan Avenue, but it's expected remediation there will be completed in 2023.
The site was a municipal landfill for the City of Sarnia from 1929 to 1967 and also accepted industrial waste from 1930 to 1944.