Traces of MTBE found in town well

Saturday, August 9, 2003

By ROD ALLEE
STAFF WRITER

RINGWOOD - For the first time, a trace amount of the gasoline additive MTBE has been discovered in a municipal well, but borough officials say the contamination is far below state health safety limits.

Mayor Jerry Holt on Friday issued a news release on the tainting of municipal well No. 8 off Canici Drive near the borough library. He noted that the well is 400 yards from a Mobil gasoline station on Skyline Drive suspected as the source of a gasoline leak that has seeped into residential wells along Alta Vista Drive.

Methyl tertiary butyl ether boosts octane levels in gasoline and decreases emissions. It has been discovered polluting wells in many towns in New Jersey. Studies have linked MTBE to cancer and neurological problems in animal studies, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

"This is the first time, as far as I know, that we have had MTBE in any detectable levels in our water supply," Holt said. "This is not a cause for alarm, but we want people to know that we are carefully following this development."

Ringwood recently reached a $4 million settlement with ConocoPhillips to build a water line to the Forsgate neighborhood of 160 homes whose private wells were contaminated by the gasoline spill. For the agreement to be ratified, homeowners have to give up their right to sue.

Officials reported that the municipal well was found Monday to have 0.51 parts per billion of MTBE. This is far less than what the state Department of Environmental Protection considers a threat to public health - 70 parts per billion. Holt said Friday that the well is 50 to 60 feet deepand shallower than other municipal wells. He added that its water does not go directly to consumers but instead is blended with water from another well. The system is a closed loop, extending through Erskine Lakes and serving individual customers along the way.

Tests done Friday at the well indicated that the MTBE level had dropped to 0.44 parts per billion. Another test, on this blended water at the point of consumption, did not turn up any trace of MTBE, Holt said.

Trace amounts of MTBE - less than 0.5 parts per billion - are found in 85 percent of New Jersey's water systems, according to a report by the state DEP. Dan Nachman, a consulting hydrogeologist in a Millburn firm that is conducting tests for the town, said that "MTBE in drinking water in the minuscule amounts we are talking about here can be found in almost any well or water supply at almost any time."

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