Barrington gas leak worse than initially believed
A leak from a downtown Barrington gas station that seeped fuel into the village's sanitary sewer system was worse than officials initially thought, leading them to shut down the station again until repairs and further testing are complete.
Greg Summers, the director of development services for Barrington, said workers pumped about 6,000 gallons of spilled fuel and water Tuesday and Wednesday from the soil around the Mobil gas station at Northwest Highway and East Main Street.
Officials first discovered the leak Monday after residents living near the station reported smelling a gas-like odor in their homes. Summers said officials now believe the spilled fuel seeped into the gas station's sewer pipe, which is made of clay and not liquid-tight, then flowed into the village sewer.
The leak did not threaten the village's water supply, and fuel that traveled through the sewer system would be treated with other waste at the village's treatment plant, officials said.
The leak is believed to have started last week during routine maintenance of the station's leak detection system on a high-pressure fuel hose, Summers said.
The state fire marshal allowed the station to reopen Tuesday after they confirmed the leak detection system was no longer leaking. Soon after, nearby residents called the village again to report that the fuel odor had returned.
Summers said village workers reinspected the sewers and found fuel was again flowing from around the gas station. The fire marshal and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency returned to the scene and discovered that much more fuel than believed had escaped during the initial leak.
Officials dug a hole between the village's sewer line and the station's fuel tanks, inserted a hose and began pumping out liquid. Summers said workers pumped from Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday afternoon, only stopping at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday to sleep.
Because of the leak, Summers said the gas station has been added to the state's Leaking Underground Storage Tank tracking database, which means it will have to install a new monitoring well near the site of the leak that will be checked consistently for the rest of the station's life.
An outside environmental consultant has been hired to test the soil around the site of the spill to determine how far the fuel went. The consultant also will create a remediation plan to remove any remaining fuel.
The fire marshal on Thursday will conduct a full pressure test of the station's entire gas tank system, which Summers said is more thorough than the testing done Tuesday.
Also Thursday, a plumber will coat the gas station's clay sewer pipe in plastic, which Summers said will make it liquid-tight. After the pipe is coated, Summers said the gas station's store will be allowed to reopen.
The gas pumps will remain closed until the fire marshal's pressure test is completed, he said.
Summers said the village reinspected the homes of the residents who had reported the smell and found that the smell was gone and the fire department's instruments could not detect any fumes.