Flooding in northern Pennsylvania has sufficiently diluted a gasoline spill that threatened Susquehanna River water supplies, officials said Monday.

“The rain in the northeast has sufficiently diluted the spill that no samples are above the minimum acceptable level for drinking water levels,” Charlotte Katzenmoyer, director of public works for Lancaster, said in an email Monday morning.

Samples taken over the weekend showed gasoline compounds in the water that were within safe levels for drinking, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“Dilution is the solution to pollution,” Katzenmoyer said Monday, responding to the DEP report.

“However, we are still taking precautions by planning to shut down our intake tomorrow from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. based on the time of travel that shows when the plume will arrive,” she said. “If that estimated time changes, we will adjust accordingly.”

55,000 gallons spilled

The 8-inch Sunoco Logistics pipeline was breached during heavy rainfall in Gamble Township, Lycoming County, at approximately 3 a.m. Friday, according to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency’s Bureau of Emergency Operations and Resource Coordination.

The bureau said 1,300 barrels of product — approximately 55,000 gallons — spilled into Wallis Run, a tributary of Loyalsock Creek that flows into the Susquehanna.

Pipeline owner Sunoco Logistics said Sunday that an 80-foot piece of the pipe was removed and the line was capped at both ends to prevent further spills.

The pipeline carries refined petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and home heating fuel between Sinking Spring and markets in Rochester and Buffalo, New York, according to a statement from Sunoco Logistics.

Numerous municipalities along the Susquehanna draw drinking water from the river, including Lancaster and Columbia Borough.

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Sunoco Logistics is the same pipeline company embroiled in the controversial construction of a 1,100-mile oil pipeline in North Dakota. That project is the focus of an ongoing protest by members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and environmental activists, who say it threatens the area’s water supply and is disrupting sites that are sacred to Native Americans.

Also, according to a Reuters analysis of government data, Sunoco Logistics spills crude more often than any of its competitors, with more than 200 leaks since 2010.

Reservoirs are full

Katzenmoyer said Friday the city was operating its water intakes at full capacity to make sure its reservoirs and tanks were full before the tainted water reached Lancaster County.

Based on current flow levels, state officials estimated the gasoline spill would reach Lancaster County about 92 hours after the pipeline breach.

Water storage is at full capacity, Katzenmoyer said Monday morning, so city water customers shouldn’t see any change in pressure because of the intake shutdown on Tuesday.

The city draws about 60 percent of its water from the Susquehanna, she said.

Rick Levis, from the state Fish & Boat Commission, said Monday that it’s still too early to tell what impact the spill will have on the river’s fish population.

That area of northern Pennsylvania got 6 to 8 inches of rain late last week, leaving waterways flooded, he said.

“When the water recedes, we’ll go in and start studying that,” Levis said. “So far, I haven’t received any reports of dead fish.”

Governor Tom Wolf and other state officials visited the site over the weekend.