Daniel Fodera  and could only say wow when he first saw what was left of the truck that crashed from the I-20 bridge above the Augusta Canal and where he takes regular walks.

"I’m glad no one else was hurt a lot of people bike down here a lot of people take their children down here and exercise if it had come off at a different time it could have been fatal for a lot more people,” he said.

The rig landed in the water staying more than six hours before wrecker crews could have it removed.

It spilled it's cargo of particle board that floated down stream as well as dozen of gallons of diesel and other engine fluids.

The accident was just a mile and a half up stream from where the city takes water out of the canal to send to tens of thousands of homes.

“We've shutdown our intakes as far as drawing water from the canal we're pulling water from the river right now our reservoirs are good at our filter plants,” said Jack O’Tyson, an operating at the Raw Water Pumping Station.

CommissionerJoe Jackson who chairs the Public Safety Committee came to the canal, to check out the contamination, he knows the waterway dodged a bullet, the truck could have been hauling thousands of gallons of gasoline, diesel fuel, or other hazardous materials.

“I think the precautions with the water treatment facility we are prepared for the next time,” said Jackson.  

Augusta's pumping station was prepared as diesel pumps were put to work to drawing  water out of the river.

'It was a 13 million dollar upgrade for just this type of scenario. 

We wouldn't have been able to take a shower tonight I promoise you that.

Had this happened three years ago the city would have been stuck without this source of water.

"We wouldn't have been able to take a shower tonight I promoise you that,"

An environmental contractor has placed oil containment booms in the water to soak up the diesel spill, as the city waits for the sheen on the water to disappear before resuming drawing water out of the canal.