COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON JUNE 1, 2018 AT APPROXIMATELY 08:15 A SR. OPERATOR PERFORMING A ROUTINE FACILITY CHECK AT NORFOLK SOUTH DELIVERY DISCOVERED STAINED GRAVEL AND A SHEEN IN AN OBSERVATION WELL ABOUT 10 FT. UPSTREAM OF THE TAKEOFF VALVE. UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION, HE OBSERVED THAT THE SOURCE OF THE LEAK WAS A DRIP FROM LINE 27 SOLATRON DENSITOMETER PUMP. THE MECHANICAL SEAL ON THE SOLATRON PUMP FAILED. THE PUMP WAS ISOLATED FROM THE LINE AND THE CONTROLLER, TECHNICIAN AND OPERATIONS MANAGER (OM) WAS SUBSEQUENTLY NOTIFIED. THE INITIAL VOLUME ESTIMATE BASED ON DIAPER SATURATION AND A FIELD ESTIMATE OF CONTAMINATED SOIL WAS UNDER 10 GALLONS. NO STATE OR FEDERAL AGENCY NOTIFICATIONS ARE REQUIRED AT THIS TIME. THE OM AND LOCAL PERSONNEL ALONG WITH CONTRACT CLEAN-UP CREW FROM HEPACO WERE ONSITE AND REMOVED SOIL AND DIAPERS FROM THE WELL AND SURROUNDING AREA UNDERNEATH THE PUMP BASE. THE SOLATRON PUMP WILL CONTINUE TO BE ISOLATED FOR APPROXIMATELY 10 DAYS UNTIL THE NEW SEAL ARRIVES AND THE REPAIR IS COMPLETE. THE CONTROL CENTER WAS NOTIFIED THAT THE PUMP IS OUT OF SERVICE. UPDATE 7/20/2018 COLONIAL COMPLETED AN INCIDENT ANALYSIS AND CONCLUDED THAT THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE FAILURE WAS CONSISTENT WITH THE INITIAL ASSESSMENT MADE AT THE TIME THE LEAK WAS DISCOVERED - THE MECHANICAL SEAL ON THE SOLATRON PUMP HAD REACHED ITS EFFECTIVE SERVICE LIFE AND FAILED. FOLLOWING THE WORK COMPLETED AND PRODUCT RECOVERED DURING THE INITIAL RESPONSE EFFORTS, ABSORBENT DIAPERS WERE LEFT IN THE OPEN EXCAVATION TO COLLECT ANY RESIDUAL PRODUCT THAT MAY HAVE BEEN TRAPPED UNDER THE BASE OF THE PUMP AND PRESSURE RACK WHICH COULD NOT BE REMOVED BY MECHANICAL MEANS. BETWEEN JUNE 15 AND JUNE 22, 2018, NO PRODUCT ABSORBANCE WAS OBSERVED ON THE DIAPERS, INDICATING NO RESIDUAL PRODUCT REMAINING IN THE AREA. ON JUNE 22, 2018, HEPACO RETURNED TO EXCAVATE AND REMOVE ADDITIONAL SOIL AND REMOVE PETROLEUM CONTACT WATER (PCW). BASED ON THE PRODUCT PRESENT IN THE VOLUME OF SOIL EXCAVATED DURING ALL RESPONSE EFFORTS AND THE VOLUME RECOVERED USING THE ABSORBENT DIAPERS, THE RECOVERED PRODUCT VOLUME WAS ESTIMATED TO BE 7.35 GALLONS. FOLLOWING THE ADDITIONAL WORK BY HEPACO ON JUNE 22, A COMPOSITE SOIL SAMPLE WAS TAKEN OF THE AREA SURROUNDING THE SOLATRON PUMP AND ACCESS WELL AND WAS SENT FOR LABORATORY ANALYSIS OF BTEX AND TPH GRO. INITIAL SCREENING IN THE FIELD OF THE SAMPLE INDICATED THAT NO RESIDUAL PRODUCT REMAINED IN THE AREA THAT WAS EXCAVATED IN RESPONSE TO THE RELEASE. BASED ON THE SCREENING RESULTS, COLONIAL BACKFILLED THE EXCAVATION WITH CLEAN SOIL AND A GRAVEL GROUND COVER ON JUNE 22. LABORATORY ANALYSIS FOR THE COMPOSITE SOIL SAMPLE CONFIRMED THAT RESULTS WERE NON-DETECT.