Officials say it could take until mid-May before displaced Wheatley residents are provided with a timeline on returning to their properties.
Impacted residents were provided with an update on the investigation during a virtual community meeting Saturday, which gave them a chance to ask any questions they had.
Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry Jennifer Barton said the investigation team is confident it understands how gas entered the Pogue Pub, the origin of the explosion last August.
However, she said before the mitigation can begin, investigators need to fully identify the gas's source and pathways to the surface.
"We believe the remaining activities that need to occur will take approximately eight additional weeks," said Barton. "Once, completed, the team will be identifying the mitigation options and believe it will take approximately six weeks for that mitigation to be completed."
Further assessments are planned for the site of the explosion and a third well to determine the type and condition of each well. Barton said the team will also be doing some gas probe installations to determine whether other gas wells exist or if there are any other areas of concern.
An interference test will be done on the second well to determine if the well is leaking gas or if the gas is from another source.
Barton said the team will also be installing two monitoring wells, one inside the investigation area and one outside the evacuation zone, to obtain groundwater and gas samples to support the work around both analyzing the gas and chemical modeling work.
“Our government and the municipality continue to balance the sense of urgency to resolve this situation with the need to do so in a safe, scientifically sound manner that creates a long-term solution for your community,” said Barton.
Sean McFarland, who is the lead investigator with environmental consulting firm Golder, said now that three wells have been unearthed, the next phase is to determine which well is the source and which one is the pathway for gas.
"We're getting very, very close," said McFarland. "We're on the last stages of our investigation that will give us the specifics that we need to develop a permanent solution. We don't want a Band-Aid solution, we want something that's fixed and safe so that people can move back into town."