IC 7033 Hazards of Methane from Well Water In Some Sections of Illinois

In March 1937 the entire country was shocked by news of an explosion of gas in a New London (Tex.) schoolhouse, which resulted in the death of 280 pupils and 14 t eachers. The Government investigators of this disaster believed that the cause was the ignition and explosion of a large volume of explosive natural gas-air mixture that had accumulated in a poorly ventilated space beneath the first floor of the main school building and that this accumulation was due to leakage from gas lin􀊂􀊃 suspended underneath the floor to carry the gas supply to the school.!i/ For some years there has been a potential explosion hazard in school houses and other buildings that are supplied with water from deep wells in certain parts of Illinois. Notwi thstand.ing the disaster at New London, Tex., and the fact that there had been gas ignitions at four water wells in different parts of the State, the explosion hazard in schools and other buildings was not fully recognized until a few months after the disaster in Texas, when an explosion occurred in the settling basin of the municipal water works of Clinton, Ill., and another in a pump house of the municipal water works in Normal, Ill, The explosion in the settling tank of the municipal water works in Clinton, Ill., occurred on August 12, 1937, and a.id considerable damage to the settling tank, but fortunately no one was injured. At the time of this explosion rapairs'and aJ.terations to the water plant were in progress, and 10 men were employed in the immediate vicinity of the settling tank. Two of these men were enlarging a hole in the concrete side with an air hammer for the installation of a larger discharge line.