Dry weather has delayed plans to clean up the diesel spill in the Okement River, which occurred last month after a train hit a deer.

The incident occurred on April 21, when a train hit a deer near Okehampton, knocking off the fuel cap and causing 1,200 litres of red diesel to contaminate the river.

Simmons Park parkkeeper James McGahey said the fast-flowing water quickly moved the fuel downstream, but sections of the river in Simmons Park remain cordoned off as diesel has contaminated the surrounding soil.

GWR and the Environment Agency are working to resolve the situation, and an external company has installed booms to trap pollutants, but this system cannot work without rainfall to wash pollutants through the soil and move them downriver.

With rain not expected until at least next week, the work cannot proceed, though the equipment remains in place.