County, state and oil company officials, meanwhile, sought to assure anxious residents of the Upper Crossroads area that they were moving swiftly to identify the extent and source of the contamination – and to provide them with bottled or filtered water.
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At three homes, a dentist’s office and the station itself, the detected levels of MTBE – methyl tertiary butyl ether – exceed levels that the Environmental Protection Agency recommends as safe.
While denying responsibility for the contamination, Exxon Mobil Corp., which owns the service station at Routes 152 and 165, has been distributing bottled water to the approximately 150 homes in the community.
The oil company also has paid to install 13 water filtration systems in homes, according to Patty Dulaney, a spokeswoman for Exxon Mobil.
MTBE, a flammable liquid with a distinct, turpentine-like odor, has been widely used since 1990 as a gasoline additive to burn fuel more cleanly. The EPA has required its use in gas sold in states such as Maryland that have a summertime ozone pollution problem.
The additive dissolves readily in water, however, and has seeped into public and private wells in more than 20 states – sparking health concerns.
Though the EPA says there are no studies of the effects of drinking MTBE-contaminated water, it has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals at high doses in inhalation studies. The federal agency has not set any safe drinking-water level for the substance, but recommends action if concentrations exceed 20 to 40 parts per billion – the threshold at which people can taste or smell it.
Statewide problem
In Maryland, MTBE has been detected in at least 100 public water systems, though only 13 had levels above the 20-parts- per-billion threshold. As of September 2001, the additive also had turned up in 273 domestic wells statewide, according to a two-year-old report by a state task force.
Public outcry over MTBE contamination of groundwater has prompted 18 states to ban or limit sales of gasoline containing the additive, and Congress has been weighing a nationwide ban.
The Maryland task force recommended a similar move two years ago, but state officials deferred to federal action.
More than half of the Harford residential water samples analyzed so far have shown at least traces of MTBE, according to figures released yesterday by Exxon, which is paying for the tests. Of 107 wells tested to date, results have come back on only 46, the company spokeswoman said. Most indicated low-level contamination, but the level in water at one residence was 300 parts per billion.
The Exxon station has not had any history of gasoline spills or leaks from its underground fuel storage tanks, according to Richard McIntire, spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Still, officials suspect the groundwater in the area could
have been tainted by MTBE fumes that evaporated from the gas and somehow seeped out of the tanks.
Officials have known of groundwater contamination in the community since 1998, said McIntire of the state environmental department.
Harford County health inspectors picked up traces of MTBE in the water of three businesses serving food in the vicinity of the Exxon station. The levels detected then were too low to warrant action, McIntire said, but he was unable to provide specifics.
Paula Goodwin lives in one of the Upper Crossroads homes where the MTBE contamination exceeds 20 parts per billion.
“The people testing the wells for Exxon told me not to drink the water and not to cook with it,” she said.
That was before the company installed a $6,000 filtration system in her home at in the 2800 block of Scarff Road, about 1,500 feet from the gas station.
“I still don’t drink it,” she said yesterday. “I don’t cook with it. I don’t let the dog drink it.”
Goodwin said she is waiting for new test results showing that the filter has eliminated all traces of MTBE.
Meeting planned
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Goodwin and other residents of Upper Crossroads will get a chance Monday night to learn more about the health effects of MTBE in their water.
The Harford County Health Department and the state Department of the Environment will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. in the Fallston High School auditorium to discuss water problems that the residents first learned about two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Dr. Andrew Bernstein, the county health officer, encouraged the owners of the 50 to 55 homes within a half-mile radius of the station that have not had their wells tested to do so as soon as possible.
<!– ART CREDITNANINE HARTZENBUSCH : SUN STAFF PHOTOS
ART CREDIT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTPaula Goodwin and her dog, London, live in the Upper Crossroads area. She says she won't drink the water, and she won't give it to her dog.
CUTLINE TEXT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTThe Exxon service station at the in tersection of Routes 165 and 152 in Harford County is sus pected of being the source of the gasoline additive being found in area wells. The company says there is no leak but has paid for testing, bottled water and water filtration systems for those affected by the contamina tion.
CUTLINE TEXT–>