Serpentine Road are seeping into the canal. And it is a problem that has existed for some time.

Belco public relations officer Ms Linda Smith said the oil had been seeping into the canal for the past several years and that the sight of it in and around the creek was nothing new. "With the high tides and the rain the site becomes more visible,'' Ms Smith said.

She added: "There is oil leaking into the canal from pockets under the Belco site which have oil in them. The oil is being pumped out of those pockets in an effort to clean up the area and the canal.'' Ms Smith also said that Belco had put programmes in place to clean up the oil.

"We are pumping the oil out from under the ground, separating the oil, and then returning clean water, that has been treated, to the canal.'' She added that Belco was also skimming oil, and trying to get the oil from under the ground before it seeped into the canal.

"We also have people cleaning the side of the canal bank,'' Ms Smith said, adding that the programmes in place were extensive and would most likely take several years to clean up the oil.

"Forty pumping wells have been put in place to pump out the oil between Serpentine Road and Cemetery Road,'' Ms Smith said.

OIL LEAK -- Oil beneath the ground of the Bermuda Electric Light Company site has been leaking into the canal behind the generator and Belco says they are making every effort to clean it up.