Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say a convenience store is the likely source of gasoline that seeped into a western Iowa daycare center’s water supply earlier this month. Matt Rhodes, an environmental specialist with the D-N-R’s field office in Atlantic, says the Shelby Mini-Mart appears to be one source of the contamination, but it may not be the only source.

Rhodes says the store’s owners have been cooperative and are helping to clean up the contamination. The business has started the process of recovering gasoline discovered in a monitoring well, and at the request of the D-N-R, will conduct an assessment to determine the full extent of the damage and how to address it.

Gasoline began to permeate a plastic pipe that carried water to the daycare center a couple of weeks ago, forcing the business to temporarily relocate. The pipe has since been replaced with a copper line to prevent further contamination of the water supply. And, while gasoline has only been discovered in the daycare’s water supply, Rhodes says residents of Shelby should contact the city or the D-N-R if they detect the odor of gasoline in their basement.