[From Bucks County Courier Times; March 6, 2025]
Some Upper Makefield residents wonder if the catastrophic floods that inundated parts of the township in 2023 affected flow of jet fuel into their wells after a leak was recently discovered from a Sunoco pipeline in a neighborhood off of Mt. Eyre Road.
The leak from a 2.5-inch crack in a petroleum pipeline under a Glenwood Drive property, described as a 'slow drip' by pipeline company officials, was discovered in January, but nearby residents reported smelling and tasting gas in their water as early as September 2023 — two months after a torrential flash flood brought six inches of rain to the area in two hours.
Severe flooding can affect pipelines, according to federal regulators. Residents at a public meeting in late February questioned whether the flood could’ve led to the jet fuel entering their private wells.
Rain also affects how far a liquid can spread through the soil, said Karen Ogden, a watershed specialist for the Bucks County Conservation District. While dry conditions may leave the jet fuel to pool around the leak, wet weather allows the petroleum to travel farther [as far as the Newtown Artesian Water wells as shown in image?}.
UPDATE, 3/12/25
At the 12 March 2025 Newtown BOS meeting, resident Valerie Mihalek reported that see attended a Sunoco and PA Dept of Environmental Protection meeting regarding the jet fuel pipeline leak in UM. She asked "if leaks could work its way down to the artesian Wells that are a source of drinking water in Newtown? Sonoco looked at me like a deer in the headlights... like they had not thought of this one." Listen to her remarks here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Yn1Fm1PQZ30?si=3z2FbzKH_n_ODqrp&t=2576]
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