Capping can now begin at a century-old well in Leamington that has been leaking hydrogen sulphide.
The work can't begin soon enough, for everyone involved.
Resident Francine Giesbrecht visits her home near the site.
“The well isn't even on our property, but our property looks like a bomb went off,” says Giesbrecht.
It all started last October. At the time, the Giesbrecht's were told they would be out for 7 to 10 days. That was five months ago, now, there's light at the end of the tunnel.
“If all goes well, we'll be under four weeks,” says Leamington fire Chief Chuck Parsons.
Parsons says they now know exactly where the gas is coming from and how it’s getting to the surface.
He says its a high concentration, low volume and its leaking from the old well 48-feet below ground.
Now the work shifts from exploration, to containment. They'll pile down into the ground to cap the well.
“They look at different types of concrete, its done in stages, and as they move they monitor what it’s doing to the gas, so that when we get up to the top stage, we'll have it eliminated as a danger,” says Parsons.
Crews are now clearing out what equipment they don't need, to make way for the capping process and not a moment too soon for the Giesbrechts.
“It’s been unbelievable, we're living, basically out of boxes, we've moved six times in 54 days, this will be our seventh move, hopefully home,” says Giesbrecht.
