At first the Trauds assumed the water’s bad odor and taste came from being unused, so they gave it the benefit of the doubt and waited a couple of weeks. To their surprise, the problem only grew worse.

The only apparent solution was to have the water tested by a lab, which cost the Trauds a few hundred dollars. When the results were in, the lab contacted David Traud and advised him not to use the water because it contained gasoline components. David called Holli, who was staying with family in North Carolina with their newborn son, and told her to remain where she was.

In the following weeks, the Trauds’ neighbors, David and Irene Mullins, also noticed a problem with the water from their well. Tests from Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality confirmed that both wells were “severely impacted” by fuel that had been leaking from an underground storage tank at the old gas station. Worse, the leak had been detected more than 10 years ago.

DEQ geologist Todd Pitsenberger told News & Arts that his agency tested the land around the buried tanks back in 1998 and concluded that “the release was relatively minor.” The DEQ took no action because there were no springs or wells in the immediate vicinity.

So when the Trauds built their home in 2007, the county health department issued permits for the construction of wells, unaware that the land was contaminated.

The UST leak, which county officials presumed to be small and relatively harmless, damaged the surrounding environment so severely that the Trauds and their neighbors still can’t drink their tap water. The DEQ installed filtration systems that make the water suitable for washing, but it is still not potable. The agency plans to install new wells this summer.

Cleanup of the site is expected to cost approximately $81,000, a small cost compared to the time, money, and aggravation the Trauds and their neighbors have endured, not to mention the health risks that exposure to fuel-contaminated water can cause.

Geologist Pitsenberger told the News & Arts that underground storage tanks are a big problem in this country. “They started putting tanks in the ground back in the ‘40s and ‘50s, and nobody really thought ‘These things are going to leak.’” In the 80s, however, the Environmental Protection Agency realized that the tanks did leak and that hundreds of thousands of them lay buried in the soil throughout the country, compromising both the health of the environment and the humans who consumed the contaminated water.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › Family’s water contaminated by leaking gas station tanks

Beasley Allen

In August of 2007, Taylor and her husband noticed the strong odor of gasoline on their property, accompanied by a petroleum sheen on the surface water that had accumulated on the property. They contacted the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) for assistance. ADEM sent an environmental contractor to Taylor’s property to install monitoring wells and collect soil and water samples.

The testing revealed that fuel from the Speedmart’s tanks had been released, extensively contaminating the plaintiff’s soil, surface water, and groundwater with a number of highly toxic chemicals. Levels of the chemicals benzene and MTBE exceeded the maximum contaminant level in the collected samples.

The lawsuit alleges that the Speedmart’s leaking UST caused substantial and permanent loss of value to Taylor’s property. According to the suit, the defendants were responsible in making sure their fuel tanks were leak-proof, which they failed to do in 2007 and previously in June of 1998. The lawsuit charges Chatham Oil with negligence, wantonness, trespass, nuisance, and strict liability in failing their duty to properly maintain and inspect the USTs.

The removal and cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks is a main initiative of the Environmental Protection Agency, which recently received $200 million in federal stimulus money to allocate amongst states, territories, and Indian land for UST inspection and cleanup.

The U.S. has hundreds of thousands of USTs beneath its cities, towns, and suburbs. A hole the size of a pinhead will allow as much as 400 gallons of fuel to leak through the walls of a UST in just one year, contaminating 400 million gallons of fresh water.

Read the complaint.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › Alabama woman sues oil company over land contaminated by leaky UST

According to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, the agency is “providing immediate growth opportunities across the nation, as well as long-term protection from dangerous pollution in the land and water.”

“EPA is putting people to work by serving our core mission of protecting human health and the environment,” Jackson explained.

Hundreds of thousands of storage tanks are buried throughout the country. Many of the tanks, some of which are several decades old, continue to leak fuel and other environmentally hazardous substances into the soil and groundwater. A hole the size of a pin head can release as many as 400 gallons of fuel into the ground and water table in one year, and 1 gallon of fuel renders 1 million gallons of water unpotable for humans and wildlife.

Nearly half of all Americans get their drinking water from underground sources – a fact that makes the identification and removal of leaking USTs imperative.

Removal of a leaking tank and cleanup of the contaminated area is a typically an expensive task. While liability for the tanks (and all removal and cleanup costs) normally falls on the tank owners, sometimes the EPA has to assume the expense of assessing, removing tanks, and cleaning up when the “responsible party is unknown, unwilling, unable, or the cleanup is an emergency response.”

Nearly $191 million of the stimulus money will go to all U.S. states and territories for leaking UST removal and environmental cleanup. $6.3 million will fund assessment and cleanup of sites in Indian territory. $3 million will be retained by the EPA for management and oversight.

Click here for more Information about UST program funding and the EPA’s implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act .

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › EPA receives $200 million in stimulus money for UST removal, cleanup

“I feel very strongly that dedicated funds should be left alone so they can serve the purpose they were meant to serve,” John Cavaletto (R-Salem) told the House Government Committee, according to a report in the Mt. Vernon Register-News.

“Here we have honest, hard working people doing a service for our state in cleaning up dangerous leaking storage tanks and the State of Illinois refuses to honor its obligations. Something needs to be done to ensure that these people are getting paid for the work they do on behalf of the state.”

According to the Register-News, Cavaletto’s documents indicated that more than $54 million has been siphoned from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank fund since 2003, the year that Rod Blagojevich became the 40th governor of Illinois.

Jay Koch, owner of United Science Industries, had the opportunity to confront Blagojevich in November of last year. Blagojevich promised Koch reimbursements, but shortly after the encounter, the governor was arrested and booted from office.

“It’s forced me to take on their debt,” Koch told the Register-News. “The state has forced their debts onto the balance sheet of business and small business. It’s very disheartening. Unlike a private party, who, if they fail to pay you, you have some recourse against. The way our state system is set up, we don’t have any recourse against the state. We’re forced to sit on the side and deal with whatever they throw at you. They don’t have to play by the same rules they set up for everyone else,” Koch said in the Register-News report.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 17,188 leaking underground storage tank cleanups have been completed in Illinois. However, nearly 7,000 known leaking tanks remain in the backlog awaiting cleanup.

If Illinois has spent all its LUST funds for other purposes, where will it get the money to remove the tanks that continue to pollute the surrounding soil and water? Assuming Koch’s company can stay afloat in all of the state’s bad debt, he may find some relief with the passage of a new Illinois state bill that amends the Environmental Protection Act and would prohibit the sweeping of money from one state fund to another. While the bill wouldn’t necessarily replenish funds already moved and spent or make Illinois current on payments, it could spell much future work for United Science Industries. Also, a protected LUST fund would in turn protect Illinois residents and wildlife from exposure to environmental toxins.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › Leaking underground tank funds used for other purposes in Illinois

“The fumes were so bad I got a headache after visiting for 30 minutes,” Wray’s attorney told the Muncie Star Press.

The Star Press reports that 6,300 LUST sites have been cleaned up statewide since 1988. Barry Sneed, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), told the paper that the LUST section of his agency is in the process of addressing some 2,400 additional sites where leaking tanks are believed to be contaminating the surrounding land and water. He also said that IDEM receives roughly 200 reports of new leaks and spills every year.

IDEM’s cleanup plan for the area near Wray’s home calls for the removal of 3,220 tons of fuel-contaminated soil.

Sneed told the Star Press that IDEM has not taken any punitive action against the owners of the affected property. He said the responsible party is cooperating fully to assist authorities in the evaluation and cleanup. The owners are also submitting remediation plans for IDEM’s review.

Nearly half a million underground tanks throughout the United States have had confirmed leaks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Many have been cleaned up, but more than 100,000 of the known LUSTs are awaiting removal and cleanup.

A vaporous gasoline odor in the basement of your home is often a telltale sign that your property might be contaminated by a LUST.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › Indiana man sues after leaking fuel tank forces him out of house

The city is also using $50,000 in voter-approved funds for investigation and cleanup of the property. A hazardous waste disposal company called Clean Harbors is removing about 60 cubic yards of fuel-contaminated soil from around the area where the gas pumps once stood.

The city of Marshfield acquired the property in 2003 when the former owner failed to pay the property taxes.

Lauren Konetznv, an engineer working at the site, said that the groundwater in the area of the old gas station is also contaminated with fuel. The water should clean up quickly, however, once the soil has been removed, she said. Engineers will drill six test wells next week to retest the water, which will be monitored repeatedly for the next several months. Because the polluted land sits in proximity to an old well, it must meet drinking water standards even though the well hasn’t been used for years.

Marshfield’s administrator, Rocco Longo, said that the city can proceed with park plans.

“What’s left now is for us to initiate a planning process for us to turn it into some kind of park or green space for the downtown,” he told the Patriot Ledger. “It might not be bad to have a little green space.”

A local memorial fund says on its website that it will create a park on the land and call it “Dandelion Park,” in memory of Molly Fitzgerald, a 14-year-old who died in June 2006.

“The Molly Fitzgerald Memorial Fund is undertaking our largest project to date in 2008. We will take what is now an ugly vacant lot in the middle of downtown Marshfield and turn it into a beautiful park in honor of Molly and all the other children who have died too early,” the website says.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › Massachusetts town converts fuel-contaminated land into park

The faulty UST is located at the city’s marina, where it is used to store fuel. Hannibal’s marina and docks, situated on the western edge of the Mississippi River, are an essential part of the historic community, which every year draws thousands of tourists from around the world.

Faulty USTs are an enormous environmental problem in the United States. Records kept by the Environmental Protection Agency indicate that hundreds of thousands of tanks throughout the country have leaked or continue to leak fuel and other hazardous substances. Just one gallon of fuel will pollute one million gallons of water — a sobering fact considering Hannibal’s faulty tank sits on America’s most vital waterway.

According to a report in the Quincy Herald-Whig, regulators cited Hannibal for three violations: failure to properly conduct and maintain corrosion protection; failure to comply with temporary closure requirements; and failure to permanently close a substandard underground storage tank.

Chris Atkinson, director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, told the Herald-Whig that last summer’s floods are to blame for the tank’s condition. During the floods, electricity that ran a 24-hour monitoring system on the gas dock was cut off. Electricity also powered a system that protected the tank’s pipes from rusting. The flood also removed the gas dock from its moorings, thereby forcing the city to disconnect electrical and gas lines.

To fix the problem, Hannibal can stop selling gas at the marina completely, install an above-ground tank, or install a new UST. Whatever is done, the solution will prove to be costly. Putting in a new UST would cost approximately $50,000.

“No matter what we do, there’s going to be a cost, and frankly none of this is in the budget,” Atkinson told the Herald-Whig.

The city is currently repairing the flood-damaged docks, a project that FEMA estimates will cost more than $240,000. That total, however, does not include replacing the old UST.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › ‘Tom Sawyer’ city cited for underground storage tank violations

The Environmental Protection Agency reports that there are 623,319 USTs in the United States and its territories. Of those USTs, there have been 479,817 “confirmed releases” or leaks and 377,019 completed cleanups. That leaves a national total of 102,798 known leaking tanks awaiting removal and cleanup.

Even the slowest dripping tanks can pollute millions of gallons of groundwater. It takes just one gallon of fuel to contaminate one million gallons of water. It doesn’t matter whether you get your water from a municipal reservoir or a well on your property; your water supply could be at risk of contamination by leaking USTs in your area.

Fortunately, there are some telltale signs that an underground tank may be leaking. Business owners with USTs and individuals alike should be aware of these signals. Early detection can help prevent major health and environmental problems.

• You or other people smell escaped product or see anything like an oily sheen on water near the facility
• Your neighbors complain of vapors in their basements or about water that tastes or smells like petroleum.
• Someone reports unusual operating conditions at your facility, such as erratic behavior of the dispensing pump.
• You receive or generate results from leak detection monitoring and testing that indicate a leak.

If you suspect that a UST is leaking, you should immediately notify the appropriate agency for your state or region. Tanks located in Indian Country should be reported to the EPA Regional UST program office.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › Do you live near a leaking underground storage tank?

The old tanks are made of steel, which is highly corrosive. The underground tanks were especially prone to rust, thereby allowing the fuel to leak out into the surrounding earth.

Pat Coyne, director of business development for Environmental Data Resources, Inc. said that steel tanks tend to rot like “Swiss cheese,” according to a report by the Associated Press.

The rusting tanks and other programs once administered by the Civil Defense Preparedness Agency became FEMA’s responsibility after the agency was formed. Decades later, the agency is still trying to inventory the tanks it owns – now numbering more than 2,000. The agency still doesn’t know the exact geographical locations of some of the tanks, whether they are above ground or underground, or whether they are leaking. The paper trail tied to the tanks spans several decades and hands. No evidence to date suggests that these government-owned underground storage tanks (USTs) have created environmental or health problems because of leakage.

But the government tanks, which FEMA and the FCC have tossed back and forth like a hot potato of  responsibility, are just one part of a much more massive problem: the existence of more than half a million USTs holding fuel and oil buried throughout the country. No one knows exactly how many of the tanks could be leaking.

USTs that leak diesel or other fuel can easily contaminate the groundwater. It takes just one gallon of diesel fuel to effectively contaminate one million gallons of water, putting people at risk for cancer, kidney damage, nervous system disorders and a number of other health hazards.

FEMA has worked to repair and or replace some of the tanks since the 1990s. Others have been removed or filled with sand. But many of the tanks, including many suspected leakers, have yet to be removed. More modern tanks must be made of leak-proof polymers and have a leak detection system.

FEMA spokesman Dan Stoneking told the AP that it is working to fix the problem of all the leaking tanks under its jurisdiction. “We are committed to upholding our obligations to remediate, remove or upgrade them as necessary,” he told the AP. “We believe in adhering to any relevant environmental rule or law and will do so.”

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › leaking fuel tanks: a cold war legacy

The proposed regulation would apply to storage tank systems owned or operated by federal departments, boards, agencies, and Crown corporations; to storage tank systems operated in connection with port authorities set out in the Schedule to the Canada Marine Act, railways and airports; and to storage tank systems located on federal and Aboriginal lands. The new regulation would also apply to suppliers of petroleum products or allied petroleum products to these storage tank systems.

The new regulation also aims to reduce several toxic substances from entering the environment, among them 1,2-dichloroethane, 3,3’-dichlorobenzidine, benzene, ethylene oxide, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are found in petroleum products and allied petroleum products. Under the proposed regulation, leaking storage tank systems would be required to be temporarily withdrawn from service, repaired, and be leak free before being returned to service. More stringent requirements would apply to singlewalled underground tanks and piping. Leaking single-walled underground tanks and piping must be permanently withdrawn from service and removed within four years after the day on which the proposed regulation takes effect and the day on which the owner or operator becomes aware of the leak.

The following storage tank systems would be considered by Environment Canada to be at high risk for contaminating soil and groundwater, and therefore would have to be permanently withdrawn from service and removed within four years of the new regulation taking effect:

* storage tank systems with tanks designed to be installed aboveground but were installed below grade or in secondary containment surrounded by fill
* storage tank systems with tanks designed to be installed underground but were installed above grade or in unfilled secondary containment
* storage tank systems with partially buried tanks
* single-walled underground storage tank systems that do not have pre-existing corrosion protection and leak detection
* single-walled underground piping that does not have corrosion protection and leak detection. An owner or operator of storage tank systems installed before the proposed regulation takes effect would have to perform prescribed leak-detection testing at a specified frequency on single-walled underground equipment and single-walled aboveground equipment that does not have secondary containment.

Horizontal aboveground tanks without secondary containment would have to be visually inspected once within two years of the coming into effect of the proposed regulation, and once per month thereafter. Vertical aboveground tanks without secondary containment would require a test within two years after the day on which the proposed regulation takes effect, and once every 10 years thereafter. Sumps, regardless of installation date, would also have to be visually inspected once within two years of the proposed regulation taking effect, and once a year thereafter. Suppliers of petroleum products would be prohibited from transferring petroleum products into any storage tank, unless the storage tank system identification number is visible. They would be required to record the storage tank system identification number on their invoice and notify the operator of any spills or leaks that occurred during the transfer process.

Main cause of soil contamination
Spills and leaks of petroleum products from storage tank systems are responsible for some 66% of the soil contamination on contaminated sites on federal and Aboriginal lands in Canada.

Tanks store petroleum products as diverse as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, aviation fuels, kerosene, naphtha, lubricating oils, thinners, solvents, and printing inks. Storage tank systems can be based on a single tank just large enough to provide heating oil to one dwelling, to a multiple large-capacity tank system used for fleet fuelling, product distribution, or fuel supply. The volume stored in the tank system can vary from 230 litres to over 75 million litres. The proposed regulation was published in Canada Gazette Part I, April 7, 2007, for a 60-day

Source: EcoLog Environmental Resources Group

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › Feds propose new reg to remove leaking storage tanks from service

What’s leaking?
Most underground storage tanks leak gasoline, and the main chemicals of concern are benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has established levels of these chemicals “where it is known that there is no risk to the health to all individuals.”

Adverse health effects are only seen if exposures to these chemicals are significant.

Benzene: Long-term exposure to high enough levels has adverse effects on the blood and bone marrow. Long term exposure to benzene in the air can cause luekemia, which is a concern if benzene could move from the soil or groundwater into a home.

Toluene: Exposure to high levels can effect the nervous system and kidneys. Exposure to high levels in the air can cause light-headness and dizzyness.

Ethylbenzene: Exposure to high levels in the air can cause eye and throat irritation, light-headedness and dizzyness. These is a potential for damage to the kidneys from exposure to high levels.

Source: Stuart C. Schmitz, Environmental Toxicologist, Iowa Department of Public Health

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › Iowa’s 6,200 leaking underground storage tanks

There are about 6,200 leaking underground storage tanks in the state — and more than 1,500 are considered ongoing contamination risks. Some of the leaking tanks have been problems for more than 15 years. Almost 820 are labeled high-risk.

State officials say they are trying to devise new rules so that the most hazardous sites, which often take years to clean up because of bureaucratic red tape and legal wrangling, can be addressed faster.
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See where they are: Click here to search a map and database to see how many of the state’s 6,200 leaking underground tanks are near you.

The state’s backlog is down about 30 percent from five years ago, according to statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency, but about 20 leaking tanks deemed in need of action are on school property.

“We are taking enforcement action against those who don’t fix (leaks),” said Elaine Douskey, who supervises the underground storage tank program with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “We are staying after them.” Left undetected, leaking tanks can cause big problems, as residents in Climbing Hill, an unincorporated town of less than 150 people in Woodbury County in northwest Iowa, discovered.

They learned almost 18 years ago that two underground tanks, including one that belonged to a school, contaminated five residential drinking water wells and one public supply well that belonged to a restaurant. State officials provided bottled water for almost nine years and then switched the town to filtration systems before homeowners received new wells around 2004, said Rochelle Cardinale, an environmental coordinator with the DNR.

Routine tests show the new wells are safe, but some residents still question whether lingering contamination will someday taint that water supply, too.

“I’m worried about where that contamination might go,” said Gary Little, who works and lives with his family in the Barn, a local cafe.

Longtime residents are also concerned about developing cancer, he said. “They don’t know how long they’ve been drinking that stuff.”

People who ingest or breathe high concentrations of chemicals released from a tank could wind up with leukemia, kidney damage, nervous system disorders and other ailments, according to state public health officials.

A report by the Iowa Department of Public Health estimates Climbing Hill residents were exposed to chemicals, including benzene, for a year or two before the leak was detected. That wasn’t long enough to put them at greater risk for getting cancer, the report states.

The Climbing Hill leaks are still labeled high-risk; there is still benzene in the soil. In high enough concentrations, benzene can cause leukemia.

The site might be downgraded because the wells have been removed, Cardinale said. The department isn’t sure how much longer it will have to monitor the area, she said.

The high-risk designation means a leak could expose people to dangerous chemicals. It doesn’t mean contamination has already occurred.

Challenges exist in finding, tracking tanks that leak

DNR officials know how many leaks there are, but say they don’t keep track of how many times leaking tanks have tainted drinking water, polluted lakes or streams, or seeped into basements in Iowa.

Douskey said the agency’s data on the leaks have that detail, but the only way to tally up that data is to review each file manually.

However, the agency does respond quickly to reports of suspected contamination – either in the water or the air, which sometimes is the first clue there is a leak nearby, Douskey said.

One example is from February 2006, when employees at a day care in Shelby said tap water smelled like gasoline. The likely culprit was a plastic water line running past a gas station. The day care moved and the lines were replaced.

But without evidence of contamination, it’s not readily apparent to residents whether a leaking underground storage tank near them poses a hazard because each site is different, Douskey said. Soil composition, the size of the tank, the depth of nearby wells, the age and extent of the leak, and the groundwater table all factor into where pollutants are likely to spread and whether they present a risk to the public.

“If I lived right next door to a gas station, I would be curious whether they have a plume under that site,” Douskey said, adding that anyone can view the agency’s records on leaking tanks for more information.

If a leak occurs in clay soil, it could stay on the site forever and never be a problem, but a leak in sandy soil travels farther, she said. But even if it spreads, that doesn’t mean it’s a risk, she added.

Leaking gasoline tanks can also present the risk of fire and explosion because vapors travel.

When a leak is detected, state officials inform residents and businesses within 100 feet of the affected area, and they take soil, water and air samples if they suspect any contamination, Cardinale said.

Cardinale said it’s unusual for a leak to travel much beyond 400 feet, or about a city block. The leak could spread farther if it’s near a municipal well that pumps lots of water and can pull contaminants in.

Tracing contamination, cleanup can take years

It took 14 years for officials to figure out how to handle the Climbing Hill contamination. That case was extreme, but cases sometimes linger several years while agencies and owners decide what to do, Cardinale said.

The agency and the industry admit it often takes far too long to take action, and both sides are trying to implement new methods to speed up detection and cleanup. Aided by new federal laws, state regulators also have more tools to guarantee that tank owners comply.

Some of the changes include:

• Devising a better way to measure the actual potential spread of contamination, which could downgrade some sites where the current risk might be overstated, although industry officials and the DNR are currently at odds over how to do this.

• Using inspectors from third-party companies to check all tanks every two years. State inspectors had such a backlog that some sites went five years without an inspection.

• Shutting down gas stations or fueling facilities that don’t comply by preventing fuel trucks from filling the stations’ tanks, in accordance with a federal law that went into effect last year.

• Requiring all new tanks to have enhanced safety measures, leak detection devices and an extra outer shell. Traditional steel tanks, prone to corrosion, have been replaced with specially coated Fiberglas tanks resistant to gasoline, diesel and ethanol.

• Bringing all parties together at once, especially for high-risk sites that need more attention.

“If we know it’s high-risk, we decided it’d be best to get everybody at the table at the same time,” Douskey said. “That seems to have cut the time down significantly.”

Jeff Hove, regulatory affairs manager of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa, agreed. “Especially if it’s a newer release, you’re going to see it move forward immediately,” he said.

But about three-fourths of the remaining cleanup work in Iowa must be funded by taxpayers.

Evaluating a leak requires rounds of monitoring and testing to figure out how far contamination has spread. It’s a problem if pollutants reach private drinking water wells, city water supplies, sewer lines, lakes or streams, or seep into basements as a chemical vapor.

If the current property owners didn’t install the tank — or knew nothing about it when they bought the land — finding out who is responsible adds another hurdle.

Debating whether to excavate the soil, remove the tank, extract vapors or take other action turns into back-and-forth between government agencies and site owners, Hove said.

“It can be a really long process,” Hove said. “Sometimes the regulator will say, ‘Well, industry’s dragging their feet.’ And industry says, ‘We did our report and sent it in 12 months ago and it hasn’t been reviewed by DNR yet.’ ”

Eastern Iowa school district spends thousands on site

In the meantime, some site owners simply watch and wait. Near an elementary school in Lowden, a town of about 800 residents some 40 miles northwest of Davenport, inspectors test six groundwater samples each year.

Leaks from an old fuel oil tank used to heat the school’s boiler are in proximity to a city drinking water well. That means the site has been labeled high-risk, even though the tank was removed in 2004 and the tests show contaminant levels falling within allowable ranges, said Mary Jo Hainstock, superintendent of the North Cedar Community School District.

The district spent about $14,200 in 2004 to have the tank removed and has been paying $1,300 to a private company each year since for the tests.

“It’s thousands of dollars,” she said. “But when you want to do things right, it’s really not an option not to do it.”

The district hopes the state will reclassify the site soon, although Hainstock is prepared to wait up to a year for her district’s application to be reviewed.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › Iowa pollution perils lurk among buried fuel tanks