Additive in gasoline polluting water wells; Some state legislators seek to ban the use of MTBE

Daniel P. Jones, Courant Environment Writer Copyright 1999 Hartford Courant January 5, 1999

A chemical added to gasoline to help lessen air pollution is increasingly being blamed for another environmental problem -- contaminated drinking-water wells.

Several state legislators say they will try to pass a law in the next General Assembly session to ban the use of the additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE.

A gasoline retailers' association, fearing lawsuits for environmental damages, favors banning the substance. The association and some scientists question MTBE's air- quality benefits, saying, for example, that it increases the amount of formaldehyde, a suspected cause of cancer, in auto exhaust.

But MTBE proponents, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, say it has helped reduce air pollution by making auto exhaust cleaner and by reducing other toxins in gasoline, such as benzene, a known cause of cancer.

Most major oil companies also favor MTBE as the most cost-effective way to meet the federal mandate for cleaner-burning fuel.

MTBE is added to fuel sold in Connecticut and other states where air quality is poor. The aim is to reduce tailpipe emissions of carbon monoxide and pollutants that contribute to the formation of ozone, or smog.

But as soon as MTBE hit the pumps, in 1992 in some states and in 1995 in much of Connecticut, complaints of health problems began. Motorists said they had trouble breathing, nausea, sore throats, skin rashes, eye irritations and neurological problems after pumping gas or breathing automobile exhaust.

MTBE has been banned in Alaska and part of Montana, because of such complaints. North Carolina banned it after classifying it a probable cause of cancer in people. Maine is in the process of getting MTBE out of the gasoline sold there. It's under fire in statehouses in other states as well, including California, where some major water supplies have been polluted, and New Jersey, where some of the biggest protests have been staged by motorists who say breathing the fumes makes them sick.

Now, well-water contamination is emerging as a major concern. MTBE has contaminated dozens of wells in Connecticut and thousands across the country. The MTBE comes from gasoline spills, leaks from underground storage tanks and storm water runoff.

The cost of dealing with MTBE in water supplies "may be far more than what the benefit is from an air quality standpoint," said Tom Marston, director of supply and treatment for the Connecticut Water Co.

The chemical, for which there is no federal drinking-water limit, has the potential to cause cancer in people, according to federal scientists.

Ellen Nemecek, who lives in a 250-year old house in Ashford, worries about her health, having learned more than two years ago that a tank at the nearby town garage had leaked gasoline into the ground water.

MTBE was found in her well at 500 parts per billion, well above the 20-40 ppb level recommended by the EPA. She has been getting bottled water and has sued the town.

"I noticed a problem about three years ago. I was getting a film on top of it when I was boiling water for spaghetti," she said. "I never suspected gasoline."

MTBE in a well usually signals that other gasoline components will turn up. Sure enough, benzene also was detected in Nemecek's well.

But as the Connecticut Water Co. learned in Thomaston, MTBE is especially a problem because it moves rapidly through soil, spreads quickly in water supplies, does not break down in well water and is difficult to remove.

Three of the company's wells had to be shut in 1992 because of MTBE contamination attributed to a gasoline leak from a tank at Thomaston's municipal garage. The town last year agreed to pay $1.9 million for replacement water and cleanup costs. The wells are in use again, but the company found MTBE more expensive to remove than other pollutants in gasoline.

"The stuff is pretty toxic; it takes a very small amount of it to pollute a lot of water," said Sen. Anthony Guglielmo, R-Stafford, who has received complaints about MTBE contamination from Nemecek and other well owners in several of the eastern Connecticut towns he represents.

"In addition, there are other additives we can put in the fuel to meet the federal requirements for clean air," Guglielmo said.

A similar debate is already under way in California, where drinking- water suppliers have detected MTBE in thousands of wells.

"It became a major threat in 1997 when the city of Santa Monica lost half its [underground] drinking water supply to MTBE contamination. . . . Since then we started finding it all over the place," said Krista Clark, of the Association of California Water Agencies, which represents 440 public water suppliers.

"If we continue to use MTBE, we'll continue to lose water supplies," she said.

After Santa Monica discovered that one of its well fields was tainted with MTBE, the city struck an out-of-court settlement with Shell, Chevron and Exxon. The companies agreed to pay more than $8 million to reimburse the cost of replacement water and the city's legal expenses -- plus cleanup costs that ultimately may cost $50 million.

Mobil agreed to a similar settlement for pollution at another well field, paying Santa Monica $2.5 million, plus cleanup costs that could top more than $5 million.

State Sen. Louis C. DeLuca, R- Woodbury, who is submitting legislation to ban the additive in gasoline sold in Connecticut, said constituents have complained for several years about respiratory problems they attribute to MTBE. He also said he has consistently heard complaints that MTBE reduces gas mileage -- a drawback that scientific studies have confirmed, to the tune of roughly a 3 percent to 5 percent reduction in miles per gallon.

Recently, DeLuca began hearing more about the threat of MTBE in drinking water supplies. About a million Connecticut residents get their drinking water from wells.

"Why do we use something that we know is getting in our ground water?" asked Michael Fox, executive director of the state chapter of the Connecticut Gasoline Retailers and Automotive Service Dealers of America. The chapter has 800 members.

"The handwriting is on the wall. MTBE won't be around in a few years. But it will be a fight" to remove it from the market, said Peter M. Joseph, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia who is among the leading scientific detractors of MTBE.

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