FERGUSON, Mo. -- A Ferguson, Mo., convenience store lost more than 20,000 gallons of fuel from a leaking underground storage tank (UST) pump, according to emergency responders from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, who were called to the scene last Friday to investigate.
A weekend investigation of the leak that occurred at the QuikTrip station found that 21,000 gallons had escaped from the pump into the station's tank pit for a four-and-half day period before being discovered.
Contractors hired by the station removed [image-nocss] approximately 15,600 gallons of water and fuel from the tank pit and installed an interceptor trench and a recovery well in an effort to stop fuel from entering a sanitary sewer. Absorbent booms and pads were placed in a nearby tributary to Maline Creek where fuel had contaminated the waterway, causing a heavy petroleum sheen on the water.
As of early Monday afternoon, explosive levels of gasoline and gasoline vapors were still present in the sewer system. The c-store is continuing to work with the Department of Natural Resources and the Metropolitan Sewer District to clean up the release.
The department's Environmental Emergency Response section was contacted Friday afternoon by a sewer district staff member, who reported a release of gasoline into a city sewer in Ferguson. That release was traced back to the station, and the leaking pump was discovered and shut down. Department staff stationed in Eureka were dispatched to the scene to oversee the cleanup.
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