Attempts to recover a sludge truck from a Brighton creek were unsuccessful yesterday, with the damaged vehicle last night still part-way up a steep roadside bank.
The Fulton Hogan gutter-cleaner rolled off McIntosh Rd on Wednesday, dropping 25m into Otokia Creek.
The driver was not injured.
Yesterday, a 35-tonne Billington Transport excavator and a Reilly's Towage and Salvage truck were deployed to try to recover the truck.
The digger's bucket was lowered down the bank and a cable from the tow truck was run through a pulley on the bucket to the sludge truck.
The stranded truck was turned in the water, but attempts to pull it up the bank were unsuccessful.
In the afternoon, a large Fulton Hogan truck, carrying a load of dirt ballast, was used to anchor the tow truck, but the salvage was called off when darkness fell, the truck lying partway up the bank.
Otago Regional Council senior environmental officer Simon Beardmore said council staff attended the crash site on Wednesday to monitor any discharges from the truck.
''We were there to ensure Fulton Hogan staff were appropriately mitigating any adverse effects on the environment.''
A ''light sheen'' of diesel had leaked into the creek.
Fulton Hogan staff had worked between 4.30pm and 9pm, using absorbent pads and booms to contain the diesel.
While the spill was ''relatively minor'', he said, it was an offence under the Resource Management Act and enforcement action could still be considered.
