Published in the Asbury Park Press
By TODD B. BATES and PAUL D'AMBROSIO
STAFF WRITERS
MORE THAN 80 public wells serving thousands of homes in Monmouth and Ocean counties may be at risk of contamination from MTBE, a gasoline additive that seeps into water supplies from leaking underground tanks, according to an Asbury Park Press review of federal data.
Statewide, Ocean County had the second highest number of public residential wells near underground tanks that have leaked at gas stations, government offices or other places. Lakewood, Dover Township, Jackson and Manchester ranked near the top of the municipal list.
But state officials said drinking-water tests have not yetrevealed a big problem with MTBE, a possible human carcinogen with a foul taste and turpentine-like smell. And several local water system operators said their wells are hundreds of feet deep and at minimal risk for contamination.
Because of the threat to water, the Clinton administration last week urged Congress to significantly reduce or eliminate the use of the additive in gasoline. As a backstop, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is seeking to eliminate MTBE through regulation.
Even if MTBE is banned immediately, it's "safe to say in some (ground water) systems we'll be dealing with it for decades," said Eric J. Evenson, chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's New Jersey District office in West Trenton.
Last week, the American Chemical Society released a study saying that about 9,000 public residential wells in 31 states, including New Jersey, are within 1 kilometer of at least one underground storage tank that has leaked. A kilometer is about six-tenths of a mile.
MTBE and similar compounds could move a kilometer in many aquifers, or underground water supplies, in 10 years, said John Zogorski, a supervisory hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and one of the study's authors.
Two of Zogorski's colleagues and two Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology researchers co-authored the study.
The researchers called the study a preliminary analysis and said more research is needed to pinpoint the risks to wells.
Not all tanks store gasoline, and not all leaking gasoline tanks will be significant sources of MTBE, the study says.
Overpumping an aquifer boosts the chances that MTBE and other pollutants will be drawn from the surface down into the area where wells tap into water supplies.
Although the 9,000 figure is "undoubtedly an overestimate," the number is "so large that the actual number may be worrisome," the study says.
The state Department of Environmental Protection is gauging the risks of contamination, from a variety of pollutants, to all 8,000 public water supply wells in New Jersey. The massive project is to be completed in three years.
MTBE, which is short for methyl tertiary butyl ether, tends to move much more rapidly into underground water supplies than other chemicals in gasoline. It also breaks down slowly, over a number of years, in ground water.
MTBE has been widely used in recent years to boost the oxygen content in gasoline, promoting more complete combustion and reducing emissions of carbon monoxide, smog-forming pollutants and other toxic substances. Critics have said projections of lower emissions are overblown.
According to federal data used for the new study, 26 public residential wells in Monmouth County and 57 in Ocean County are within 1 kilometer of at least one underground tank that has leaked. The total for New Jersey is 442 wells.
The information is sorted into several categories: wells with one to five leaking tanks nearby, six to 20 tanks, or more than 20 tanks.
The Jackson Municipal Utilities Authority, for example, has four wells within 1 kilometer of an estimated one to five tanks, and one well near an estimated six to 20 tanks, data show.
But the wells range from about 400 to 1,800 feet deep, and they're confined by layers of clay beneath the land surface, said Scott Bundy, the authority's executive director.
The authority has never detected even a trace of MTBE in its water, he said.
"Anytime you hear anything about this, you're always concerned if there is a potential problem, but we'll monitor it," Bundy said.
Thirteen New Jersey-American Water Co. wells in Monmouth and Ocean counties also are near underground tanks that have leaked, according to the Press review of data. But Kevin Dixon, director of water quality for the company, said MTBE was not detected in those wells last year.
The wells range from about 200 to more than 350 feet deep, said Lendel Jones, company spokeswoman.
"We've had very sporadic hits (detecting MTBE), just in certain locations throughout the state," Dixon said. "There doesn't seem to be any pattern to it."
The company has measured 6.2 parts of MTBE per billion parts of treated water from one of its wells in Northfield, Atlantic County, he said. The DEP limit is 70 ppb.
A new study of MTBE in northeastern and mid-Atlantic states that is to be released in several months has shown that New Jersey had the highest percentage of public residential water systems in which MTBE has been detected, Zogorski said.
But Peter Page, the DEP's director of communications, said MTBE is most commonly found in untreated water at levels of 2 ppb or less.
"New Jersey doesn't have a major problem with this," Page said. "The underground storage tank program has basically kept us in check."
Underground tanks were supposed to be upgraded, replaced or closed by Dec. 22, 1998, according to federal and state rules. Most tank owners complied; some, including the state, are still trying to meet the deadline at some locations.
Barry Grossman, a Plainsboro resident and founder of Oxy-Busters, a group pushing for an MTBE ban, said the state's MTBE standard is "definitely inadequate. If a resident finds that they have 50 ppb of MTBE in their water, the DEP in New Jersey won't do anything about it."
Page said "at this stage . . . EPA is planning to phase out MTBE. People in the state that are drinking treated water from any kind of public monitored system aren't drinking anything close to 70 ppb."
Staff writer Jason Method contributed to this story.
Published: March 31, 2000
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