San Joaquin Co.: Officials Complete Pollution Response To Sunken Vessel In Delta

Bay City News

Contractors removed thousands of gallons of oil and hazardous waste from a decommissioned cruise ship that sank and began leaking fuel in the Delta waterway in San Joaquin County last month.

Officials announced the completion of their pollution response after extracting more than 20,000 gallons of oily water and more than 3,000 gallons of hazardous waste from the vessel. They did not observe any oiled wildlife during the removal and there is no recoverable oil left on the vessel, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

A unified command with representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Office of Spill Prevention and Response and the city of Stockton has been disbanded. However, other agencies are still exploring options to remove the vessel entirely from the water.

The containment boom around the vessel and Stockton's drinking water intake pump station will remain in place out of "an abundance of caution," the Coast Guard said.

Aurora, a 293-foot ocean liner ship made in 1955, suffered a hole and began taking on water May 22, causing it to leak diesel fuel and oil into Little Potato Slough near Stockton.

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