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Three holes in one of the derailed CP Rail tank cars lying in the Thompson River north of Lytton, B.C., have been patched, and water quality tests taken earlier this week have shown the water is free of contamination, says a CP spokesman.CPR spokesman Mike LoVecchio said officials will continue to test the water every day as long as the train cars remain in the river.In all, four tank cars carrying ethylene glycol derailed on Tuesday evening. Two of the cars reached the river, with one fully submerged and the other partially in the water.CPR initially denied that any of the chemical, used in antifreeze, had been released from the cars. However, by late Thursday, the province’s Environment Ministry confirmed that divers had found broken valves and punctures in the metal, from which the chemical was leaking.“How much may have leaked at this stage, no one knows,” spokeswoman Kate Thompson said.She added that, according to CPR engineers, the water in the river would dilute the product to below-toxic levels, even if the entire contents of the tankers were released.LoVecchio, however, said that CPR plans to plug the holes in any case.In concentrated form, ethylene glycol can be hazardous to aquatic life, according to safety data. Local native groups are worried it could threaten the summer salmon run.“My concern is that the spill may worsen, thus threatening the already precarious survival of the early Stuart sockeye run,” said Ernie Crey, fisheries adviser for the Sto:lo Tribal Council.LoVecchio said CPR crews plan to anchor the two derailed train cars to the bed of the river through a combination of river rock and 4,000-kilogram anchors. They will drain and remove the cars once the river levels have dropped and the salmon run has passed.Two other cars, which were knocked off the tracks in a Canada Day mudslide, were removed Thursday.
Overview of the Thompson River's path. Lytton is center-bottom-left on the mapChemicals in the Thompson River were said to be found after four Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) cars containing chemicals derailed near Lytton, British Columbia, Canada on Tuesday night.

The derailment occurred just northeast of Lytton when a landslide hit in the middle of a freight train with about 100 cars at around 7:00 pm PDT (02:00 UTC) Tuesday evening. One car remained on the tracks, another was on a river bank, and two were submerged in the Thompson, one of them fully submerged and the other partially submerged. CP states that the cars were carrying the chemical ethylene glycol, commonly found in products such as antifreeze and windshield washer fluid. Glycol is water soluble and biodegradable but is causing concern to local fisheries and people dependent on aquatic life survival. Even though there is not enough chemical to be toxic after dilution in the water, there is still expressed concern that it may cause additional stress to aquatic life.

CN Rail's path across the North Thompson RiverDespite protective measures, like a protective double hull, investigations found that broken valves and holes are causing the chemical to leak into the river. CP Rail originally denied that any chemical was leaking, but is now driving efforts to plug the leaks.

The Thompson River is a tributary of the larger Fraser River. The area is sensitive to harm because migrating salmon pass through and are in already in dwindling numbers in recent years.