Employee’s leave the Montfort Hospital’s newly built east wing yesterday where up to 20,000 litres of furnace oil has leaked into the soil beneath the expansion of the Montreal Rd. facility. (Andre Forget/SUN MEDIA)

The Montfort Hospital’s newly built east wing is now the site of a massive $6-million environmental cleanup.

A hospital executive says between 15,000 to 20,000 litres of furnace oil have leaked into the soil beneath the new expansion of the Montreal Rd. facility, setting the stage for a decontamination project that’s estimated to take up to 15 years.

A piece of heavy equipment broke a pipe leading to a furnace around Jan. 23, causing a leak that’s led to the excavation of 1,500 tonnes of contaminated soil.

“We’re not happy with the situation but bad things happen sometimes and we try to manage it appropriately with all the proper measures,” including environmental standards and patient and staff safety, said the hospital’s executive VP Marc Joyal.

Hospital staff discovered the leak after staff in a nearby area noticed noxious fumes. About 10 employees working in the health records section were evacuated from the area and relocated.

Joyal said the hospital immediately notified the provincial Ministry of Environment and the Technical Standards and Safety Authority when they discovered the leak, along with the Champlain Local Health Integration Network that oversees health-care planning in Eastern Ontario.

The hospital hired an environmental consulting firm which met with neighbouring residents, who rely on well water.

“There hasn’t been any off-site impact on drinking water wells to date,” said Kate Jordan, spokeswoman for the provincial environment ministry.

In the weeks following the spill, Joyal said the hospital did air-quality tests three times a week and determined the leak didn’t pose any risk to patients or the operation of the hospital, which continues to do weekly air-quality tests.

Joyal said the hospital wasn’t trying to hide the leak, which went largely unreported since January.

“From our perspective, we’ve been very transparent about it. More than 1,000 people have been made aware of this, including about 10 different groups and agencies,” said Joyal. “It’s not like we were trying to hide anything from anybody.”.

The estimated $6-million cleanup tab will be covered through the insurance policy from the Montfort’s expansion project, said Joyal.

Repair crews installed a groundwater treatment system, which meant digging walls into the base of the new wing and pumping water into the soil and removing the contaminated soil.

“Our site is safe and our care is safe and there’s no worries for anyone to be treated at our site,” said Joyal.

donna.casey@sunmedia.ca