5,900 natural gas leaks discovered under Washington, D.C.: A dozen locations had concentrations high enough to trigger explosion
Thursday, January 16, 2014 - 10:00
in Earth & Climate
More than 5,893 leaks from aging natural gas pipelines have been found under the streets of Washington, D.C. A dozen of the leaks could have posed explosion risks, the researchers said. Some manholes had methane concentrations as high as 500,000 parts per million of natural gas -- about 10 times greater than the threshold at which explosions can occur.