A Monastery Park resident expressed outrage over the damage sustained to her property from oil that seeped into her yard during last week’s severe thunderstorm and subsequent flooding.

Deborah Knowles’s home is located on Pelican Crescent in Monastery Park.

Mrs. Knowles said she woke up Wednesday morning to find that the oil that she believes is from a nearby storage yard where heavy duty equipment truck are kept is the source had washed up into her yard and ruined her grass and stained her walls.

She said that for years residents in her community have complained of the storage site and the danger it poses.

“This problem has been going on for years where we have some things that I think shouldn’t be going in neighbourhoods but they are going on – roadside garages,” she said. “I cannot definitively say where this has come from but I have my suspicions 99.9 per cent where it has originated from, but it is really not my job to prove that. My job is to show the damages to my property. My concern is that whoever or wherever the source of this problem has come from I want them to come and give retribution for my damages.”

In addition to the damage to her property, Mrs. Knowles also expressed concern that the situation creates a safety hazard to the community.

Many of the residents in the area use water wells and she said that there may be a possibility that their water was contaminated.

“This is a problem for any neighbourhood that has children – that has homes – that has well-fields that can be impacted by people who work with diesel and batteries and poisonous substances that disturb the water table.

“I have an open waterline in my yard right now and I know if this was a well in my yard, my water would have been contaminated.”

Officials from Environmental Services are investigating the matter and said Mrs. Knowles did the right thing by filing a complaint with the department and allowing its officials to conduct a thorough investigation.
When an incident is reported, officials say it usually takes 48 hours before an investigation gets underway.
Incidents can be reported to the department’s Consumer Hotline at telephone number 302 5245.