Wisconsin town monitors while searching for solution to gas line rupture

A Wisconsin town continues to monitor water quality as officials consider solutions to a gasoline pipe rupture, which sent tens of thousands of gallons of gas into rock formations near drinking water wells, according to the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

The rupture released some 54,600 gallons of gas into a farm pasture in the town of Jackson, Wis. The gasoline seeped into the ground and the rock formations beneath. It then seeps into drinking water wells with rain storms.

Town officials asked the owner of the pipeline to study the feasibility of solutions to the spill. Three possible solutions include piping city water out to homes, citizens sharing deep wells, or creating a new water district in the area.

So far, the rupture contaminated 26 wells. October rains did not push the gasoline to other wells, but a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources study showed benzene levels did increase in some of the affected wells.

Image: A map of the benzene plume and water advisory area in Jackson, Wis. (Credit: WDNR)