oil spills 517
What to do in case of an oil spill
When oil spills or leaks from a storage tank, it should be
contained and absorbed. Once it is absorbed, the oil and
any material used to absorb it must be removed and
disposed of safely, for example, in a pit lined with
concrete, so they will not pollute the groundwater.
Oil spills on water can also be contained and
absorbed, but this is difficult without special
equipment. Anyone who enters the water to
clean up spilled oil can get very sick. Trying
to remove oil from water by collecting it in
buckets is dangerous and does not work well.
With proper equipment and training, this is
how oil spills in water are cleaned up:
Some materials that absorb oil are
straw, sawdust, ground corncobs,
feathers, clay, wool, and sand.
➊➋
Oil is kept in place with a boom, a kind
of floating fence held by anchors, or tied
to boats or to things on shore. The boom
prevents most of the oil from floating away.
➌
A machine called a skimmer takes oil
off the surface of the water and sucks it
through a hose into a waste storage tank.
➍
Oil that remains in the water is absorbed
with materials like sawdust, peat moss,
feathers, or clay.
After as much of the oil as possible is skimmed
from the surface, soaked up, and removed,
what is left is set on fire and burned away.
Burning the oil makes toxic smoke, but may be
better than leaving oil in the water.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012