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REMEDIAL COSTS FOR MTBE IN SOIL AND GROUND WATER
Citation:
Wilson, B. H. AND J T. Wilson*. REMEDIAL COSTS FOR MTBE IN SOIL AND GROUND WATER. National Ground Water Assn. Focus Conf, Orange, CA, 06/05-08/2002.
Description:
The extensive contamination of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in ground water has introduced concerns about the increased cost of remediation of MTBE releases compared to sites with BTEX only contamination. In an attempt to evaluate these costs, cost information for 311 sites was furnished by the U.S. EPA Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST, 2000), several states, BP/Amoco, Creek and Davidson (1998), and other sources. The majority of the sites were from South Carolina (183), Kansas (53), and New York (32), but information from sites in Maine, Texas, California, and Illinois were also included.
The average cleanup cost of the 311 sites was $200,827 with a range of $21,000 (at a UST site in South Carolina) to $1,203,168 (for cleanup of a public water supply in Kansas), a standard deviation of $193,210, and a median of $150,000. The majority of the costs ranged from less than $100,000 to $300,000 per site. The 311 sites included 183 sites from South Carolina that provided costs for remediation and operation and maintenance but no site assessment costs. The average cleanup cost for South Carolina was $146,132 compared to $279,022 for the remaining 128 sites.
Overall, cleanup costs for MTBE contamination of drinking water wells were found to be higher than cleanup costs for UST's. The average cleanup cost of sites impacting drinking water supplies was $414,273 while the average cleanup cost for 276 service station/petroleum sites was $174,820.
The average cost to remediate a MTBE site with drinking water impacts is approximately twice the cost of cleanup of sites where no drinking water impacts occur ($414,273 compared to $174,820).
MTBE treatment at most sites utilizes technology that is also intended, and originally developed, to treat BTEX. contamination, because often the MTBE plume is congruent to or is contained within the BTEX. plume.