This is Scientific American, 60 second science. I'm Emily Schwang.

On June 3rd, a train loaded with highly volatile crude oil derailed just outside the small town of

Mosher in Oregon's Columbia River Valley.

More than 40,000 gallons of crew to spill out of the train.

Some burned away in a 14 hour long fire at the scene, some got into the wastewater treatment system.

And some of the spilled crude oil found its way into the nearby groundwater.

Crews with Union Pacific Railroad Company and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

are now focused on getting that groundwater clean again.

They're using a technique called biosparging, which helps the naturally occurring

microorganisms at the site consume the oil. The biosparging relies on pumping additional

oxygen underground.

And this additional oxygen will cause

the population of microbes to expand very quickly.

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Project Manager Bob Schwartz.

So the more microbes, the more quickly the oil gets consumed.

Schwartz says it's unclear exactly how much oil contaminated the groundwater.

We're measuring it in hundreds of parts per year. how much oil contaminated the groundwater.

We're measuring it in hundreds of parts per billion with a B, so it's a very small mass,

but the levels are still high enough for us to have to clean it up.

Schwartz says the groundwater treatment system will likely continue for the next year.

Meanwhile, trains will resume carrying oil through the area.

...