Ground Water Protection Council
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Key Message
Underground storage tank (UST) systems that contain fuels,
chemicals, and wastes are numerous and widespread and pose a
significant threat to ground water quality in the United States.
Currently, there are more than 640,000 federally regulated active
USTs that store fuels or hazardous substances. These systems can
and do leak, and when they leak they contaminate soil and
ground water—even hydrologically connected surface water.
These leaks often occur in populated areas, where public and
domestic water supplies are concentrated, and it is difficult and
expensive to clean them up, particularly if they involve a public
source of drinking water.
Since 1985, federal and state UST programs have significantly
reduced the risk of new releases by implementing releaseprevention
and leak-detection requirements and establishing
improved design, installation, and operational technical
standards. Federal and state leaking underground storage tank
(LUST) programs have overseen the cleanup of nearly 351,000
leaking tank sites. At the same time, states have had to respond to
new contamination problems from fuel constituents such as
methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). The
continued widespread use of UST systems
(including large numbers of heating fuel
storage tanks that are not federally
regulated) requires that existing regulations
be fully enforced and that additional
regulatory, land-use, and engineering
measures be developed and fully
implemented to further minimize threats to
public health and safety, the economy, and
the environment.
A leaking underground storage
tank is removed from gasoline contaminated
ground water. Of the federally regulated petroleum storage tanks, as of September 2006, there
were about 465,000 confirmed releases (leaks) and 436,000 cleanups initiated, of which
351,000 had been completed (USEPA, 2007). However, cleanup efforts haven’t even
begun for more than 32,000 sites, many comprising what are considered to be abandoned
tanks with no identified responsible party (USGAO, 2005). Many forgotten buried steel
tanks have yet to be discovered that may still contain product or may have leaked.
Photo: Missouri PSTI
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A bailer pulled from a LUST-site monitoring well shows that
about a foot of free-product gasoline is present in the
ground water.
why USTs matter to
ground water...
USTs continue to be a big deal because
each installation has the potential to
leak, threatening human health and the
environment. Leaked product
contaminates ground water used for
drinking and other uses and, on occasion,
enters surface water. Today’s
improved UST systems are the product
of federal and state requirements and
programs, as well as improved technologies
and a heightened awareness on the
part of tank owners and operators.
However, leaks still occur, albeit far less
frequently, and we must stay vigilant in
order to prevent tank systems from leaking
in the first place and to ensure that
leaking systems are reported
immediately and cleaned up
expeditiously.
Leak prevention
depends on proper
system installation and
then on proper operation
and maintenance once the
system is in service. More
careful siting of new USTs
away from drinking water
sources also helps reduce
risk potential.
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Recommended Actions
To Congress:
- Appropriate LUST Trust Fund money so that it can be sufficiently used for
the purposes intended by Congress.
- Appropriate the funds necessary for states to carry out the new measures
of the Energy Policy Act.
- Appropriate LUST Trust Fund money to the states for implementing the
UST provisions of the Energy Policy Act (i.e., inspections, enforcement).
- Reevaluate the feasibility of including tank systems not currently covered
by federal UST regulations, such as heating oil tanks and aboveground
storage tanks not covered by Spill Prevention Control and
Countermeasures rules.
To USEPA:
- Continue to encourage states to target UST enforcement and LUST
response activities in areas of high-priority ground water (e.g., wellhead
protection areas); over significant or single-source aquifers; near springs,
sinkhole areas, and other karstic features; and in proximity to private wells.
- Modify the current UST regulations (40 CFR 280) so that standards meet
today’s technological capabilities.
To State Agencies:
- Adopt siting requirements for new UST facilities, including the establishment
of minimum setback requirements in relation to water supply wells
and high-priority ground water areas, and more protective requirements
for existing tanks in high-priority ground water areas (e.g., site-grading
requirements to keep storm water away from fueling areas).
- Prioritize UST inspections, compliance, and enforcement efforts for facilities
within source water areas, near private drinking water wells, and over
high-priority aquifers.
This gas station from the Route 66 heyday
is emblematic of many such facilities that
are now abandoned along former busy
highways. UST programs in many states are
trying to address these sites in order to
remove tanks that may have been leaking
for years and facilitate necessary cleanups.
Photo: Pepijn Schmitz
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