Watson General Corp.: The Irvine-based provider of...

Watson General Corp.: The Irvine-based provider of environmental products and management services said Wednesday that it will join with a Santa Ana company to offer independent monitoring of underground leaks of gasoline and other petroleum tanks.

Watson said it has reached an exclusive agreement with alarm-maker National Alarm Computer Center to provide the software needed to qualify a National Alarm facility as a third-party monitoring station.

Ronald G. Crane, Watson’s president, said the company is trying to get into a new area in the early stages. Only the city of Santa Ana requires that service stations and others with underground petroleum tanks use third parties to monitor possible leaks. However, Crane said other cities and the state are looking at similar legislation.

Watson’s software will allow National Alarm to use computers to check on alarms installed in every service station to determine if leaks have occurred.