A lawsuit filed Monday in Champaign County Circuit Court contends that contamination from a natural gas leak north of Mahomet has spread to additional residential water wells.

Seventeen people are suing Peoples Gas for damages related to a natural gas leak north of Mahomet that affected their drinking water.

Two measures designed to protect the public from future natural gas leaks at the Peoples Gas underground storage field in Champaign County passed the state Senate Thursday and now head to the Illinois House.

An Illinois Senate committee has approved two bills filed in response to a 2016 leak at the Peoples Gas natural gas storage field in Champaign County, which sent methane gas into nearby private wells.

Representatives from Peoples Gas are attempting to reassure skeptical residents in rural Mahomet that the natural gas leak from December 2016 is under control and it is working with homeowners who have contaminated wells.