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EMERY COUNTY -- For several weeks, residents in Ferron in Emery County have complained of the smell of gasoline in their homes coming through their floor drains.
It turns out gasoline from a pipeline had been seeping into the ground.
The odor persisted for about a week until the agency that maintains the city's water and sewer systems dug up a sewer line near a gas station in town.
"When we dug down we found live gasoline flowing with the groundwater and did in fact determine it was infiltrating our sewer line there," said Jacob Sharp with the Castle Valley Special Service District.
The service district contacted the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). In the past week, the Division of Environmental Response and Remediation collected groundwater and soil samples from several locations.
The tests were sent in to a lab, and the results will determine the exact source.
Eileen Brennan with the Division of Environmental Response and Remediation said, "We think we might be able to actually pinpoint the source of this issue."
Preliminary tests showed the gasoline contaminated the drinking water to one of the homes.
"The petroleum product in the ground had absorbed into one of our polyethylene service lines," Sharp said.
A temporary service line has been set up to that home.
"There are a couple of above-ground storage tank gas stations in this town, and we think one of those is the likely source of the petroleum," said Brennan. "Without the lab data we can't say for sure, but we have a pretty good indication."
DEQ and the Castle Valley Special Service District say based on observation, the source is most likely a pipe carrying gasoline from the tank to the gas pump.
Service to the pipeline has been shut off for more than a week.
Full results are expected later this week.
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Story compiled with contributions from Anne Forester and Paul Nelson.
