The Willow Glen Resident

MTBE is spiking Santa Clara County's water supply with extra twist of slime

By Jon Hoornstra

Six years ago a gutsy governor stood up to federal authorities and ordered a halt to the use of a nasty chemical additive put in his state's gasoline supplies to protect clean air. The chemical was MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, a known toxin and possible carcinogen.

The problem that former Alaska Gov. Walter Hickel had with MTBE was the suspicion that it was making people sick. So he summoned a team of investigators from the National Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta to investigate. They discovered elevated levels of MTBE in the blood samples of people tested, and that was all Hickel needed to sign an executive order on Dec. 29, 1992, ending MTBE use in Alaska.

In spite of that experience, federal and state authorities have forced Californians to pump millions of gallons of MTBE into their vehicles since the summer of 1996. Now, some bad consequences loom on the horizon.

Dr. Robert Gross is an environmental and water-resource engineer who is chairman of the Santa Clara Valley Water District board. He argues forcefully that a failure to stop the use of MTBE now may lead to a catastrophe well beyond any agency's ability to repair. Gross wants everyone to get on the fast track to learning about MTBE. Consider this a primer, but only a beginning at best.

Every time you fill your gas tank, at least 11 percent of what you pump into your car is MTBE. At certain times, it may be as much as 15 percent.

MTBE has been around for decades, as it's a byproduct of the gasoline manufacturing process. And the oil companies have always employed special procedures for its handling and disposal because it is toxic.

"It was a stroke of genius for the oil refiners to get rid of MTBE by putting it in our cars at the gas station pump," Gross observes.

"But there's more," he adds. "Guess what MTBE becomes when it comes out your tailpipe? It's formaldehyde," he declares in a tone that hints at indignant outrage that one carcinogen comes in from the pump and another out the tailpipe.

A substantial portion of drinking water consumed in Santa Clara County, some 40 percent, comes from aquifer wells vulnerable to MTBE, according to Mike DiMarco, a spokesman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. "The remaining 60 percent comes from captured rainwater and other sources," he says. While those other sources are less vulnerable to MTBE penetration, they could not ultimately escape it given the natural water cycle.

Official reports from this summer revealed 241 MTBE-contaminated sites in Santa Clara County at levels ranging from five to 430,000 parts per billion, nearly all at gas stations. Although there is no official safe level for MTBE, DiMarco says federal authorities "suggest" 35 parts per billion. At 10 parts, people with a fine sense of taste can detect the kerosene-like smell of MTBE, DiMarco says. Bottom line, though, is that MTBE's danger to the county's 6,000 wells has officials "testing the water at the treatment plants like crazy"--at least hourly.

The trait that worries scientists most is that MTBE will not biodegrade or adhere to other substances, such as soil. Containment, capture and removal would be extremely difficult and could quickly put the price of water beyond all reach.

In this area, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board reported just one contaminated site in Cupertino, seven in Los Gatos and 18 in Sunnyvale. There were two contaminations in Saratoga, three in Santa Clara, 18 in Palo Alto and 149 in San Jose. Overall, there are 948 MTBE contamination sites in the nine Bay Area counties. Officials insist that none of these contaminations have yet affected the water we consume.

Still, the danger is near. Between January and July, MTBE forced a domino-like shutdown of 10 wells at the South Tahoe Water Quality District, representing one-third of that pristine district's water source. Public information officer Dawn Forsythe says, "We are scared, and we don't know what's going to happen. The wells are our only source of water."

It's time for an executive order out of Sacramento, pronto.

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