Municipal staff encourage residents of Wheatley to continue to let them know if they smell gas.
This after the June 26 evacuation of part of the downtown after gas was discovered emanating from the grass at the Wheatley branch of the Chatham-Kent Public Library on Talbot Road.
Chris Case, Chatham-Kent’s fire chief, said people were evacuated as a precaution for 12 hours, and as of July 14, there were six additional calls, including on Canada Day.
“We continue to respond to calls when anybody smells gas,” he said.
Ryan Brown, director of Public Works, said the problem appears to be a water well in this instance. It’s giving off methane and hydrogen sulphide gas, similar to what emanated from the ground in 2021 less than 200 metres away that led to an explosion that levelled two buildings in the downtown.
In that instance, gas came from an old gas well, which has since been closed in.
“Once the other well was capped, we monitored it for six months,” Brown said. “It was very, very minimal.”
A monitoring well at the site of the explosion remains in place. It too is an old water well, Brown said. The gas that is detected there is “very consistent” with the gas that has come out of the ground near the library.
“There could be a logical link to the two places,” he said.
West Kent Coun. Melissa Harrigan said the latest issue has Wheatley residents up in arms.
“It’s very safe to say they have some trauma memories (of 2021),” she said.
The Wheatley library remains closed out of an abundance of caution. A stack sends any gas that seeps from the well up into the air to disperse, while a pipe links to a nearby storm sewer to dispose of the water that is also coming up from the ground.
“What we do know, is there are some (newspaper) articles from the 1930s that indicate the Wheatley fire hall was on the site and there was an explosion and fire from a gas leak,” Brown said. “We believe there is a water well on this property.”
But they aren’t sure at this point, and ask for the public to supply any historical photos they have of the area to help them gather more information.
He said the use of historical photos with the old site, at the intersection of Erie Street and Talbot Road, was helpful.
“We had a photo of the old gas well and we knew where to look,” Brown said.
As for next steps, he said crews must excavate and confirm it is a water well.
Are the two site connected? Should the monitoring well remain? Brown said municipal officials don’t have all the answers yet.
If it is a water well and not a gas well, it won’t likely be as deep, he said. He expects it would have to be cleaned, with the casing checked. Experts could advise if it needs to be capped, re-cased or monitored.
