Unknow oil on ground 8 feet from house

[Nelson Del Castillo]

Hi Everyone, I have ran into a weird situation, I have a house under contract in west haven Connecticut and we noticed on the left side of the house about 7 feet away, there is some swamp land with a strong smell of oil. We took a sample of the water that has acumalated there and confirmed that in fact there is oil there. Now the oil is right on the property line and I believe the city owns the swamp land but being that it’s so close to the house I’m not sure who would be responsible and what the cost to take care of something like this would be. Has any one encountered this kind of situation? Any input would be appreciated. ( there Is no oil In the house, It Is natural gas heatIng) Thanks Ct Ny Ma

[Stephen R.]

Thanks @Scott Hollister. 

Hey @Nelson Del Castillo, I'd agree with the other posters and would want to confirm if there is an underground oil tank on the property, which seems likely. The city may have records depending on the year of the house. Otherwise the removal company can conduct a test to locate it. If the house was converted to natural gas prior to removal of the UST being mandated it may have been left in place.

I've used Absolute Tank Removal LLC out of Milford for a couple properties and been very happy with them.

I've been lucky and never had a leaking tank; the removal of a non-leaking tank runs about $1,500. Removal of any remaining oil in the tank runs about $0.85/gal. I had one tank with 485 gallons in it so that can add up. 

As I mentioned, I have been fortunate and never had a tank removed that was leaking but was quoted the soil remediation for a leaking 550 gallon residential runs in the $11k-$13k range. It can be more depending on the soil type and extent of the contamination but that is an average clean up cost. If the contamination in you case has extended to a water source I would expect it to be considerably higher.