The Municipality of Chatham-Kent says about 600 people took part in a virtual public information meeting on Saturday to get an update from municipal and provincial officials and get their questions answered.
On Monday afternoon, municipal officials said work crews in downtown Wheatley will begin installing gas vapour probes this week in the municipal parking lot behind the site of the explosion on Erie Street North on August 26, 2021.
Assistant Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry Jennifer Barton said the gas probes will determine whether other gas wells exist or if there are any other areas of concern.
Two groundwater monitoring wells will also be installed in the area. Barton said on Saturday one of the monitoring wells will go inside the investigation area and the other will go outside the evacuation zone to obtain groundwater and gas samples to support the work of analyzing the gas and chemical modelling work.
The municipality previously said an interference test will also be done on the second well to determine if the well is leaking gas or if the gas is coming from another source. Further assessments are also planned for the site of the explosion and a third well to determine the type and condition of each well.
Barton said the investigation team is confident it understands how gas entered the Pogue Pub, which is where the blast took place, but she said investigators need to fully identify the source of the gas and its pathways to the surface before the problem is fixed.
Officials said it could take until mid-May before displaced Wheatley residents are given a timeline to return to their properties.
The municipality also said the camera investigation into two of the three abandoned wells in the evacuated area was completed last week to determine if the wells are gas or water, but nothing conclusive was found.
"Although there was no conclusive evidence as to whether the wells are gas or water in nature, information gathered will be helpful to the technical team to arrange the next steps of the investigation," said the municipality in a news release.
The public session on Saturday is still available for viewing on the municipal Facebook and You Tube channels.
