MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether)

MTBE is a chemical found in gasoline and other petroleum fuels. EPA Region 3 formed a workgroup of state and agency personnel to investigate the impact of MTBE within the mid-atlantic region. As a pilot effort, the workgroup sampled public water supply wells for MTBE in two counties of Virginia and also reviewed leaking underground storage tank (LUST) site data for MTBE impact. MTBE contamination in public drinking water wells was not found and, based on file reviews, only 10 of 215 LUST sites had documented MTBE ground water contamination. The locational information for these wells, LUST sites and related UST facilities were plotted onto GIS layers to facilitate the creation of a GIS-based tool to help determine relative risk. A site ranking software tool has been developed that can be used by EPA or the states to consider relative potential risk when prioritizing UST facility inspections or LUST site corrective action oversight.

MTBE Pilot Project Report

The Report on The Mid-Atlantic States' MTBE Pilot Project contains graphics that may slow down the time it takes this document to load. To hasten viewing of the document, in addition to posting the complete document, we have also divided it into two section. All of the following documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF) [About PDF]:

• Report plus Appendices [21 pages, 257K]
• Figures and Appendix A (Questions and Answers) [15 pages, 1.96M]
• Complete Report on The Mid-Atlantic States' MTBE Pilot Project [36 pages, 2.21M]

For more information on the report contact:

Dr. Jack Hwang
National Expert for LUST Corrective Action
Telephone: 215-814-3387
E-mail: hwang.jack@epa.gov

For more information on MTBE visit: http://www.epa.gov/OUST/mtbe/index.htm

Region 3 The Mid-Atlantic States

MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether)

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