ZANESVILLE (WCMH) — A strong odor of natural gas that put residents in downtown Zanesville on edge Thursday morning was eventually traced to a junkyard on the city’s far west side.

Officials say a decommissioned drip tank once used in connection with a natural gas pipeline was the source of the smell. Drip tanks are used to collect and hold condensation from pipelines. A spokesman for Columbia Transmission, the pipeline company that once owned the tank said it had been taken out of service and dried out before being sold for scrap.

It was not immediately clear why the tank started emitting such a strong odor Thursday morning.

People throughout the downtown area smelled it Thursday morning.

“It was very strong,” said Jennifer Hiestand, spokeswoman for the Muskingum County Emergency Management Agency. “It was extremely windy this morning so places that didn’t have the smell all of a sudden did and it made it hard for the leak detection units that we’re going out for information and surveillance.”

Officials from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources were still on the scene Thursday afternoon.