The Town of Fountain Hills has received confirmation from Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation environmental officials that tribal lands received no contamination as a result of a gasoline spill here Nov. 17, 2013.

Town Facilities and Environmental Supervisor Raymond Rees contacted tribal officials seeking clarification about a Phoenix newspaper article regarding a letter sent from tribal officials to United Petroleum Transports in January.

UPT was the carrier delivering gasoline to a Circle K at Saguaro and Shea boulevards in Fountain Hills when the tank truck ruptured after it struck a gate post.

The letter Fort McDowell sent to UPT was signed by Tribal President Ruben Balderas. It stated initial testing and investigation indicated the fuel had flowed approximately 90 feet along a wash onto reservation land.

The letter raised concerns about contamination of water supplies and asked for reimbursement for staff time and costs for testing incurred by the tribe.

In a memo to Town Manager Ken Buchanan and council members dated Feb. 18, Rees said he had received assurances from Mark Frank, a tribal environmental official, that test results showed no tribal land contamination.

Testing was done by three different parties, a consultant for the town, a consultant for Fort McDowell and a consultant for the fuel carrier. All of those showed the same results, according to Rees.

“(Fort McDowell) assured me that that all of the water and soil samples they had taken showed that no fuel from the…fuel spill has made it onto Fort McDowell’s property,” Rees said in his memo.

The greatest concern regarding contamination reaching the reservation boundary came a few days after the spill when the area received between two and three inches of rain and significant water was flowing in the wash.

“There was concern that with this rain event fuel already in the drainage channel could make its way onto Fort McDowell property,” Rees said.

“(However) the test results from the Fort McDowell Environmental Department taken during the rain event did not show elevated levels of chemical relating to the fuel spill.”

Rees said that while test results did show minute traces of contaminates, the amounts were so small they could not be attributed to the fuel spill. He said the small amount could be attributed to street or parking lot runoff.

Early in the morning of Nov. 17, the truck pulling out of the parking lot between Circle K and McDonalds struck a trash enclosure gate and split the tank truck.

An estimated 2,300 gallons of gasoline spilled from the truck and flowed off Trevino Drive and north on Saguaro Boulevard for about a half mile before crossing under Saguaro in a drainage culvert between the First Baptist Church and Clear Aire neighborhood.

According to test results provided by the town via a public records request, the greatest concentration of contaminants was in the area where fuel collected as it crossed under the roadway through the culvert.

The clean-up is still under way with Saguaro Blvd. down to one lane of southbound traffic between Kingstree and Shea boulevards.