Preliminary reports show that no contaminants of a 115-gallon gasoline spill that occurred March 10 at a Sheetz convenience store have leaked into the three wells located near the site of the spill and supply water to the university.

Sheetz spokeswoman Monica Jones said that roughly 115 gallons of gasoline leaked and seeped about 45 feet into the ground from an underground storage tank at the Sheetz convenience store at 2000 E. College Ave.

She said the damage could take from three to five years and from $750,000 to $1,000,000 to clean up.

Jones said there are three drinking water wells located in the Houserville well field that may have been contaminated, but so far, they appear to be clean.

Office of Physical Plant (OPP) spokesman Paul Ruskin said the wells in the field have been shut down as a precaution.

"We have been closely testing and monitoring the well fields that are on the side of town that Sheetz is," Ruskin said.

He also said the water appears to be clean and free of contaminants.

"They have turned up no contaminants at this moment; everything looks good," Ruskin said.

Ruskin said Penn State has two water well fields that are used for drinking water, and one of them, the Houserville well field, is located close to the site of the spill.

He said Penn State has sufficient backup wells, and this spill will not jeopardize the Penn State water supply.

"We have another well field we are using," Ruskin said. "We have a sufficient capacity to supply the university with safe water."

Jones said the leak went farther into the ground and was more spread out than it had been previously thought to be, but none of the wells that supply drinking water appear to have been affected.

Jones also said contaminant levels would be checked further to make sure the water is clean.

"Checking the wells will continue indefinitely until the levels indicate that everything is safe," Jones said.

Jones also said 115 gallons of gasoline is a relatively large amount for a gasoline spill. She said spills such as this one do not happen often and that the spill was larger, in part, because it happened underground.

Ruskin said Sheetz is in the process of cleaning up the spill, and, once contained, the well fields in question would reopen "in the near future."

He also said OPP engineers would meet with representatives from Sheetz to discuss details of the spill.

OPP's utility systems engineer John Gaudlip said that on a typical day, the university uses 2.5 million gallons of water.

He also said the university is trying to learn more about what Sheetz's cleanup techniques include.