In this file photo from May 12, 2006, a backhoe removes soil contaminated by leaked gas at the Presto Phillips 66 site, 602 W. Ninth St.

Residents in Old West Lawrence are set to get another reminder of a large 2006 gasoline leak that contaminated the groundwater in the central Lawrence neighborhood.

Crews are scheduled to install another 10 groundwater wells in the area near Ninth and Ohio streets in an effort to monitor whether a plume of gasoline beneath the ground is being adequately contained. The new wells are just the latest in a system of cleanup efforts that have been underway since more than 1,000 gallons of gasoline leaked out of underground tanks at the Presto Convenience Store, 602 W. Ninth St., in 2006.

The good news, a state regulator said Monday, is that there are reasons to believe the new wells will show positive results.

“What we have seen so far looks good,” said Randy Carlson, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment section chief overseeing underground gasoline storage tanks.

State regulators in 2013 were surprised when data started showing that the gasoline plume was spreading to the east. State regulators ordered three more collection trenches to be installed in the area, and thus far KDHE leaders believe the trenches have cut off the migration of the gasoline. The series of new wells is designed to help confirm those findings and provide additional detection capability, Carlson said.

If left unchecked, the gasoline can become a hazard if its fumes are sucked into homes via sump pumps or leaky foundations. The fumes, once inside the house, could become a combustion threat. The 2006 leak was discovered after an apartment house caught fire, and investigators discovered signs that gasoline fumes may have been sucked into the building via a sump pump and then were ignited by a spark.

Carlson said they’re confident no homes are at risk currently. The additional trenches that were installed in late 2013 have been doing their job, he said. The trenches are connected to a small “blower house” in the neighborhood that runs the contaminated groundwater through a filter before the water is discharged into the sewer system.

“The water that has been collected in the trenches is not that contaminated,” Carlson said. “And it looks like the levels in the monitoring wells have gone down dramatically.”

But Carlson said the treatment system will need to remain operational in the neighborhood for years and years to come.

“They’ll need to be in place for the foreseeable future,” Carlson said of the wells and covered trenches. “It is a long-term project.”

City officials are scheduled to approve an agreement with Presto Convenience Stores, LLC that will allow the wells to be installed in the city’s right-of-way in the area around the gasoline station.