Decades later, North Hill Centre gas leak continues to raise groundwater concerns

Monitoring well in Hounsfield Heights

Residents of the northwest community of Hounsfield Heights continue to question the fallout of detected seepage at the Sears gas station at North Hill Centre in the 1990s.

“Like the rest of the neighbours, our main concern is what will it do to property values,” said Bain Spielman, a Hounsfield Heights resident.

More than a hundred wells have been erected throughout the community to monitor the groundwater to and investigate the impact of the gas leak.

Sears operated a gas station at the mall for many years until, in the 90’s, the company discovered a leak which allowed gasoline to spill into the ground below. While the leak was confirmed two decades ago, it’s believed the leak had been seeping gasoline for at least 20 years prior to its detection.

Sears hired a company to deal with the plume.

On Tuesday, officials with Sears met with residents of the neighbouring community to assure them of the retail chain’s commitment to rectifying the situation.

Additional monitoring wells will be added this summer to comply with Alberta’s updated environment regulations.

“We don't know exactly what’s there so we want to put some wells in so that we can determine what kind of product is there and what kind of remediation plan we would need to move forward,” said Vincent Power, a representative of Sears.”

Alberta Health Services has determined the leak poses no health risks to the public but will continue to monitor the results of groundwater testing.

With files from CTV's Ina Sidhu.