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At EWG, our team of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer programmers pores over government data, legal documents, scientific studies and our own laboratory tests to expose threats to your health and the environment, and to find solutions. Our research brings to light unsettling facts that you have a right to know.
Like Oil and Water: MTBE Contamination By State
MTBE contamination is soaring
Although the use of MTBE in gasoline is rapidly declining, detections of MTBE in water supplies are soaring. The number of water systems reporting MTBE contamination in tap water supplies increased more than 15-fold between 1996 and 2004, from 137 to 1,861, and the number of states reporting problems more than doubled, from 11 to 29, according to EWG Action Fund's analysis of state water testing data. These figures are not necessarily systems whose customers are currently drinking MTBE in their tap water, but those where it has been detected somewhere in the system. The total number of contaminated systems includes private water supplies that may serve only a single customer, but more than 60 percent (about 1,100 systems) supply drinking water to cities, counties, rural communities and schools.
In the majority of the affected communities, consumers are unaware of the contamination because water utilities take steps to protect them as soon as MTBE is detected. MTBE contamination as low as two parts per billion — two drops in an Olympic-sized swimming pool — can produce a harsh chemical odor and taste that can cause tap water to be undrinkable. To cope with the problem, water utilities must either blend MTBE-contaminated water with clean sources to dilute the chemical, install costly systems to remove it, or abandon affected wells and find new water sources. The American Water Works Association, representing 4,700 U.S. water systems, estimates nationwide MTBE cleanup and water replacement costs at $29 billion — and rising with each new detection.
MTBE contamination affects communities of all sizes, with contamination reported from large systems like San Diego, where the water utility serves 1.2 million people, to the Millbrook Country Day School in Massachusetts, serving 25 students and teachers. MTBE has been detected in water supplies serving 32 million people in California, about 4.7 million in New Jersey, about 2.2 million in Massachusetts and 1 million in Texas.
MTBE Has Been Found in Tap Water in At Least 29 States
* Important Note: Many states do not keep records on their MTBE contamination. This list only reflects states that did report MTBE contamination data.
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* Low end estimate excludes systems serving over 1 million people. In large systems MTBE contamination typically affects only a portion of the population.
Source: Environmental Working Group. Data on MTBE lawsuits obtained from court records and law firms representing communities. Information on MTBE contamination is derived from data obtained from state agencies under the Federal Freedom of Information Act or state public records laws. Data were unavailable for some states; other states reported no MTBE detections. Some states currently do not require reporting of MTBE detections.
Important Note: A reported detection of MTBE does not mean the contaminant was found at any level in finished drinking water that the water system delivered to consumers. Some results reflect tests conducted on a water source, others may reflect results from finished tap water. MTBE contamination as low as 2 parts per billion produces a harsh chemical odor that renders the tap water undrinkable. For that reason, in the vast majority of the affected communities water utilities have taken steps to protect consumers, often with costly remedial action, as soon as MTBE is detected and before water is delivered. Water utilities either blend contaminated water with clean sources to dilute the MTBE in finished water, install costly systems to remove the chemical, or abandon tainted wells and shift to clean sources. Community water suppliers would be unable to recover the cost of these remedies from MTBE manufacturers under the liability shield Republican leaders have proposed to include in pending national energy legislation.
Data are primarily for community water systems. Comparable data are not available for MTBE contamination of the majority of private wells.
In some communities, a substantial portion of the local water supply has been contaminated, while in many others only one or two detections of MTBE have been made. But this last fact is less reassuring than it is worrisome. State water testing records obtained by EWG indicate that in almost all systems with just one positive detection of MTBE, tests for the compound were conducted in the last four years. Water systems nationwide are wrapping up a years-long process of meeting federal requirements mandating testing for "unregulated contaminants" like MTBE. This suggests that MTBE is only now showing up in many drinking water systems. The prospect that the MTBE contamination crisis has yet to peak makes the scheme to shield polluters from liability all the more troubling.
Also rising rapidly are lawsuits against the oil companies by communities whose water is contaminated with MTBE. Since September 2003, at least 141 water systems in 16 states have filed suits arguing that MTBE is a defective product, and that refiners knew that it would contaminate groundwater before they began adding it to gasoline but failed to warn consumers. In 2002 that argument, outlined in devastating detail in industry documents, convinced a jury to find Shell, Texaco and four other companies liable for contaminating drinking water supplies in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., forcing a $60 million settlement for cleanup. In 2003, Shell, Exxon, ChevronTexaco and 15 other companies settled a contamination lawsuit brought by Santa Monica, Calif., by agreeing to spend an estimated $200 million on a filtration system to remove MTBE from the city's water supplies.
The success of those lawsuits in holding the oil companies responsible for MTBE contamination sparked the first attempt in 2003 by the industry and its political allies to make it impossible for communities to sue on defective product grounds. In turn, the push for the waiver set off a rush to file lawsuits by communities with contamination. Of the 150-plus cases now in court, at least 141 were filed after September 2003 and would be thrown out by the retroactive provision of the DeLay-Barton bill. If MTBE makers are given immunity from defective product lawsuits, the burden of cleanup will fall to individual gas station owners, most of whom lack the kind of money it would take, and ultimately to the taxpayers.
In the House, 21 Republicans and five Democrats who voted for the energy bill and MTBE liability waiver now are faced with the prospect, if they again support it, of throwing out a total of 38 lawsuits filed by community water systems in the districts they represent. Three Members are from New Jersey, which has a total of 430 water systems where MTBE has been detected — far more systems than in any other state, supplying drinking water to 4.7 million Garden State residents. Eleven are from California, where MTBE has been found in 144 water systems serving more than 32 million people — almost 90 percent of the state's population.
An additional 81 House members — 74 Republicans and 9 Democrats — who supported the energy bill and liability waiver represent districts where MTBE has been detected in the water supply, but lawsuits have not been filed. Seven are from California, representing districts where 22 water systems have detected MTBE. Thirteen, including DeLay and Barton, are from Texas; in their districts are 29 water systems with MTBE contamination. One House member who voted yes in 2003 (Arkansas Democrat Mike Ross) has 50 water systems in his district with contamination. Another (Maryland Republican Roscoe G. Bartlett) has 50.
84 House Members Who Voted To Protect Oil Companies From Litigation in 2003 Also Represent Communities With MTBE In Their Drinking Water
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Source: Environmental Working Group. Data on MTBE lawsuits obtained from court records and law firms representing communities. Information on MTBE contamination is derived from data obtained from state agencies under the Federal Freedom of Information Act or state public records laws. Data were unavailable for some states; other states reported no MTBE detections. Some states currently do not require reporting of MTBE detections.
