Abstract
The National Water-Quality Assessment Program of the United States (US) Geological Survey conducted surveys of the occurrence of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and other fuel oxygenates in ground water used as a source of drinking water and in drinking water in the United States (USA) from 1993 to 2001. MTBE was detected in about 4% of samples of source water collected from private and public supply wells located throughout the USA and in about 9% of samples of drinking water from 12 Northeastern states. Other fuel oxygenates were detected very infrequently. Few samples of source water or drinking water had concentrations of MTBE greater than the US Environmental Protection Agency drinking-water advisory or state-level benchmarks.
As many as five million people in the USA may potentially be exposed to MTBE through source water derived from ground water. Public wells appear to be more vulnerable to contamination by MTBE than private wells, and more people in the USA rely on drinking water from public wells than private wells. Because of the uncertainty in the long-term health effects of MTBE in drinking water, it is important to monitor for MTBE in ground water used as a source of drinking water, especially ground water from public wells. Better understanding of the sources of MTBE to ground water, the intrinsic susceptibility of aquifers to contamination, and the behavior and fate of MTBE in ground water would aid in adequately protecting ground-water resources from contamination by MTBE.
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Moran, M. (2007). Occurrence of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether and Other Fuel Oxygenates in Source Water and Drinking Water of the United States. In: Barceló, D. (eds) Fuel Oxygenates. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72641-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72641-8_3
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