'Build back Wheatley:' Residents can start to dream up a new plan for their downtown, years after explosion
Site will still be monitored over several months to confirm gas issue is resolved
Years after an abandoned gas well caused an explosion that destroyed part of downtown Wheatley, residents can finally start to plan a new future for the area.
This week and next, majority of the equipment at 17 Talbot St. E. — the site of the gas explosion in 2021 — will be removed, as Chatham-Kent officials say it seems like the gas issue has been resolved.
"The feeling on site is it's like a very long movie, but it now has an ending and everybody is very just happy that we've had a good result from this project," said Ryan Brown, Chatham-Kent's director of public works.
"I also think it gives this defining moment where the community can move on."
How do they know it's safe again?
The original abandoned gas well, which caused the explosion, was drilled, cased and cemented.
Officials had opened another well to monitor the area, but that well and other water wells nearby had still been leaking gas — hydrogen sulfide to be exact.
The deterioration of the well casings open up pathways for methane gas trapped below the surface to mix with gypsum rock, creating the toxic and sometimes-deadly hydrogen sulphide gas.
"The monitoring well was emitting high volumes and concentrations, like lethal concentrations of [hydrogen sulfide]," said Brown.
A few months ago, Brown says they found another abandoned well in the area. After drilling and cementing that one, his team noticed that the gas levels were slowly going down and then eventually completely stopped.
Right now, Brown says there hasn't been any gas recorded on site for some time, but they are going to continue to monitor the area to be certain.
What does this mean for downtown Wheatley's future?
While there will still be some monitoring equipment on site over the next six months to ensure that no gas is leaking out, Brown says for the most part a lot of the big heavy equipment will be removed over the next week.
Rather than having staff on site around the clock monitoring, they will switch to remotely watching over this area.
By the end of this year, Brown says they expect to receive fulsome reports from the consultants on the area and over the next several months they will get follow-up reports based on the monitoring period.
If no gas has been detected in the area, the remaining equipment "can be removed and all the wells can be below grade," said Brown.
The on-site engineers will also write up reports.
"They're probably not going to recommend to be building buildings on the site again. There's a long history on the site of gas emissions, so probably not a great idea to build enclosed buildings, but the fact that there will be no hazardous gas present on the site in any concentration that's lethal or explosive really opens up the broader use of the site," he said.
For example, Brown said the space could be turned into a park or a farmer's market, or whatever the community wants.
"Now it won't have to include a chain link fence and a gas scrubber and all of that, if we're successful," he said.
He says reimagining the space is now up to the Wheatley community task force and local residents.
"It's just a breath of relief I think for everyone that it's not something we're going to have to live with forever, we've solved it and everybody can move on and really have this blank slate to build back Wheatley in a way that the community wants," said Brown.
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