Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
issue again). Further compounding the situation, Alamosa at the time
did not chlorinate (disinfect) its water supply. That's changed!
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For more on salmonella, check out the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention website (http://cdc.gov/salmonella/).
MTBE Risks
Across the country—especially along the East Coast—shallow ground-
water supplies risk contamination by methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE),
a component used to add oxygen to gasoline. You can't taste MTBE,
but research has shown possible human health consequences, includ-
ing cancer and effects on reproduction and development. Not only
are heavily urbanized areas at risk, but rural ones are, too.
One of the worst contaminations is in New Hampshire.
Specifi cally, it is in the four counties where MTBE as a gasoline
additive was mandated by law until January 2007—Rockingham,
Strafford, Hillsborough, and Merrimack counties—according to
a January 2008 USGS report.
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“In the four counties using reformulated gasoline, we found
MTBE at or above 0.2 parts per billion (ppb) in 30 percent of
public supply wells and in 17 percent of the private homeowner
wells,” USGS hydrologist and the study's lead author, Joseph
Ayotte, said in issuing the study. “One in every three wells tested
in Rockingham County had MTBE. In the most densely populated
areas of the county, one in two wells tested contained MTBE. We
also found that more than 70 percent of the water tested from
wells serving mobile home communities in the state had MTBE.
While levels are mostly very low, the study shows that MTBE occurs
in groundwater throughout the state,” he added.
The study goes on to point out that although MTBE no longer
is used as a gasoline additive in the state, it's not known how long
the chemical remains in the groundwater.
Arsenic, Too
If the man-made toxin MTBE doesn't get in the water, perhaps ar-
senic will. New Hampshire, along with Maine and other parts of
New England, must deal with that naturally occurring unwelcome
