Pennsylvania neighborhood still waiting for safe water after pipeline leak taints wells

In a Pennsylvania neighborhood, parents are troubled by the sight of drilling crews set up outside their homes after jet fuel polluted private drinking wells. After months of inaction, residents say the company responsible has been allowed to handle much of the aftermath.

Families in Mount Eyre Manor say a lasting fix for safe water still has not arrived, even though the leak was confirmed in January 2025.

What happened?

The work in Upper Makefield Township is aimed at mapping how far the fuel traveled after a crack in a decades-old pipeline caused a leak beneath a neighborhood north of Philadelphia, with Energy Transfer and its subsidiary Sunoco leading the investigation.

According to Inside Climate News, residents had complained that their well water smelled and tasted like gasoline before the leak was identified in January 2025.

Testing at 28 homes has found petroleum-related chemicals, including benzene and xylenes, and has found fuel floating in the water in six household wells. Energy Transfer has drilled 44 wells across the neighborhood to track the contamination, but thousands of gallons of fuel are still believed to be underground.

Veronica Casina-Harper, a Mount Eyre Manor resident, described the uncertainty: "We don't know where it is, that's the scary part."

Cleanup oversight has largely remained with Pennsylvania locals, residents say, with limited visible involvement from federal agencies. The Environmental Protection Agency declined to take the lead, and lawmakers say the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has offered little public transparency.

Why does it matter?

Because the Safe Drinking Water Act does not cover private wells, families who depend on them can be left especially exposed when groundwater is contaminated.

Petroleum-linked chemicals can increase the risk of cancer and other serious health problems. More than 200 people in the area are relying on point-of-entry treatment systems to filter their water, but community leaders say that is not the same as restoring a safe aquifer.

The broader fossil fuel industry already harms communities in multiple ways. Coal and natural gas power plants contribute to air and water pollution linked to asthma, heart disease, cancer, and premature death. They also keep many households tied to costly, fuel-based energy sources rather than cheaper, abundant energy from sunlight and wind.

For Mount Eyre Manor residents, the spill exposes an imbalance. A politically powerful pipeline company is under scrutiny while regulators contend with smaller staffs and weaker enforcement.

What's being done?

The company has proposed a vacuum extraction system and says the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is supervising the work.

Vicki Granado, a vice president for corporate communications, said, "Our work is progressing under the oversight of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in accordance with the Act 2 regulations."

Residents and local officials say the current response is not enough. Ben Weldon, chairman of Upper Makefield's board of supervisors, said treatment units "were never supposed to be the permanent clean-water solution."

At the federal level, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has pushed pipeline safety reforms and supported funding that could help connect the area to a public water supply.

Pennsylvania lawmakers have also introduced legislation that would give state regulators more authority in spills like this one.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero summed up the frustration: "We are really no further along in understanding the extent of the problem and really getting at it." Fitzpatrick said, "No homeowner should ever have to become an expert in pipeline safety."

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