Human waste produced in Marsh Lake residential areas is likely being shipped to Whitehorse due to chemicals contaminants found in Marsh Lake sewage ponds.

After discovering what is believed to be petrochemicals contaminating the waste about three weeks ago, area haulers handling the contents of Marsh Lake-area toilets are being redirected to the Whitehorse and Carcross lagoons following the closure of the Marsh Lake-area sewage treatment ponds, said Doug Caldwell, a territorial government spokesman.

After finding the chemicals, the government performed one test on the pond and had 12 other samples were sent to out-of-territory labs for analysis.

'It's still closed. We're still waiting for the test results,' Caldwell said.

Haulers will have to spend extra money to gas up and go elsewhere because the Marsh Lake lagoons would be closed until further notice, he added.

'They have to go to Whitehorse and some have to go to Carcross,' he said.

Caldwell said the chemical contaminating the Marsh Lake lagoon was believed to be oil, which would disrupt the biological breakdown of the excrement in the ponds.

'It's a petrochemical. If I was a betting man, I would say that it is probably oil,' he said.

'The sewage system is a biological machine and the waste separates through that (sewage lagoon) process; oil impedes that.'

Caldwell said if it was found that there was oil in the lagoons, it wouldn't pass through the ponds' lining and that the ponds could be emptied and flushed to bring them back into working order

Whitehorse public works manager Brian Crist said today he hadn't heard of the problem at Marsh Lake but would be contacting territorial officials to get more information.

He said he wasn't sure about the number of loads that would be coming from Marsh Lake to Whitehorse but was confident that the city's lagoons had the capacity to handle the extra waste.

'If it's just the Marsh Lake area, then I think we could handle it. It would depend on what the volumes (of waste) were,' he said.

Companies responsible for hauling the waste were contacted but spokespersons could not be reached for comment.