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EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Questar Gas has received about six to eight calls from Eagle Mountain residents regarding gas leaks since the company purchased the city’s gas system Thursday.
Darren Shepherd, spokesman for Questar Gas, said the company expected this would happen because of the odorant it adds to the natural gas.
“Natural gas doesn’t have an odor, so we add the odor into it so customers know if there’s a particular pungent odor and there’s a problem to call 911 or call Questar Gas and we can come and check it out,” Shepherd said.
Eagle Mountain has owned their gas system for the last 15 years. When the customers experienced small gas leaks this week, the additional odorant Questar Gas ads made the leaks “obvious”, Shepherd said.
Shepherd believes there has been only one incident where the company needed to evacuate a customer as the result of a gas leak.
When they give us a call, we'll come out and check it out and that's exactly what we want any customer to do, whether they live in Eagle Mountain or not.
–Darren Shepherd, spokesman, Questar Gas
For the most part, the leaks are the result of the gas line connecting to the meter in the streets, but there are instances where customers are noticing the odor inside their homes or businesses when they light the gas range, Shepherd said.
Shepherd said fixing the leaks is a matter of “tightening a few joints and unions where the service line connects to the gas meter.” If the problem is inside the home and the customer owns their appliances, Questar Gas will detect the problem and let the customer know so they can tighten the joints themselves or call a contractor to repair it, Shepherd said.
“When they give us a call, we’ll come out and check it out and that’s exactly what we want any customer to do, whether they live in Eagle Mountain or not,” Shepherd said.
There are about 6,500 Questar Gas customers in Eagle Mountain, Shepherd said.
Contributing: Nkoyo Iyamba
