Download or read book USEPA MTBE Pilot Project written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) was legally used as a gasoline blending component in New York State from 1979 until its statewide ban on January 1, 2004. The expanding use of MTBE in gasoline during that period in conjunction with its physical and chemical properties resulted in significant MTBE impacts to the groundwater resource of Long Island ... NYSDEC conducted a pilot study to better define the extent of MTBE contamination stemming from previously unidentified and/or unreported MTBE blended gasoline releases throughout the Long Island aquifer system. The study was intended to yield sufficient data to project the potential MTBE impacts upon drinking water source waters (groundwater) from unreported MTBE blended gasoline releases throughout the aquifers supplying the sole source of drinking water to the residents of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. During the study, 52 gasoline retail stations in Nassau and Suffolk Counties (approximately 4.7% of the total number of stations in those counties) that had no known prior release of oxygenated gasoline underwent petroleum bulk storage inspections and groundwater sampling for MTBE. The study found that MTBE was nondetect or less than the New York State Department of Health drinking water standard and NYSDEC groundwater standard of 10 micrograms/liter (ug/L) at approximately 60% of sites investigated. Additionally, MTBE was found to have exceeded 10 ug/L at 34% and 53% of sites investigated in Suffolk and Nassau Counties, respectively. The MTBE concentrations in groundwater ranged from nondetect up to 240,000 ug/L in Nassau County and up to 63,000 ug/L in Suffolk County.