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TOXINS FOUND IN SOURCE OF DALLAS WATER

EPA SAYS DALLAS WATER SOURCE SHOWS LOW-TOXIN LEVELS

By Brenda Rodriguez / The Dallas Morning News 03/14/2000

Authorities said Monday that contamination from last week's half-million-gallon gasoline spill is beginning to show up in Lake Tawakoni, a major water supply for Dallas.

But they stressed that the gasoline additive MTBE had not reached hazardous levels.

David Bary, a spokesman for the Dallas office of the Environmental Protection Agency, said that sampling of Lake Tawakoni, which provides 25 percent to 30 percent of Dallas' water supply, indicated low levels of the additive used to help clean the air in urban areas.

"They are finding MTBE in Lake Tawakoni, but at levels, I want to emphasize this, at levels that are very way, way, below any health-based concerns," Mr. Bary said. "We'll have to wait and see the extent of the contamination and the authorities will have to decide at that point in time, given the information they have then, what is necessary. It is very premature to speculate what we would do because frankly we don't yet know what needs to be done."

MTBE is water-soluble, and cleansing a water supply of it is expensive, officials said.

The city of Dallas shut its intake from the lake Friday. The community of West Tawakoni had temporarily shut its intake from the lake Monday, but it restarted its water plant after tests indicated that the levels were not hazardous, according to West Tawakoni Mayor Ron Tanoos.

About 500,000 gallons of gasoline spilled into East Caddo Creek north of Lake Tawakoni from a break in a pipeline early Friday. The spilled fuel has been contained behind booms and dams about four miles north of the lake. EPA officials said the MTBE may have gotten into the lake by flowing in the water under the booms.

Mike Rickman, assistant director of water operations for Dallas, said the contamination showed up in samples taken in the northern edge of Lake Tawakoni where East Caddo Creek enters the lake. He said Dallas gets its water supply from the southwest corner of the lake, which hasn't indicated signs of contamination. While its intake from the lake is shut down, Dallas is performing annual maintenance on its pumps, he said.

"We are still very concerned about it because we are worried about the overall impact it may have on the lake," Mr. Rickman said.

Cleanup efforts continue at the spill site, which is west of Greenville, and could last at least a week, officials said. Mr. Bary said that about 8,000 of the 12,000 barrels of gasoline that spilled have been recovered. Each barrel contains about 42 gallons of gasoline.

"That leaves 4,000 barrels of product unaccounted for, and we are sure that some of that has evaporated and some of it has seeped into soils," he said. "We'll continue cleanup efforts."

Predicted rain Tuesday could slow the cleanup work, officials have said.

The pipeline's owner and operator is Explorer Pipeline Co. of Tulsa, Okla. The line, built in 1973 and last tested three years ago, is buried about 4 feet underground.

The gasoline represented about 2 percent of the daily flow through the 1,400-mile-long pipeline from Louisiana to Indiana.

The company plans to send a portion of the pipeline that broke to the National Transportation and Safety Board in Washington, D.C., for analysis, said Lauren Brookey, a spokeswoman for Explorer Pipeline.

Meanwhile, officials have begun to assess the damage left from the spill. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department authorities said several animals - including two raccoons, a skunk and a turtle - were found dead, possibly as a result of the fumes or from drinking water with high concentrations of gasoline.

"The good side of that, again, is this creek is normally dry where the concentrations were real, real high, and there was no wildlife there," said Capt. Garry Collins, game warden for the Dallas district that includes Hunt County. "There was hardly any wildlife present."

Determining the damage to the land and vegetation will take longer, Capt. Collins said. "It's going to be a long-term assessment," he said.

http://dallasnews.com/metro/48652_GASSPILL14.html

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 14, 2000

Answers

Lake showing no more traces of contamination Gas additive 'barely detectable' after cleanup

03/15/2000

By Brenda Rodriguez / The Dallas Morning News

Authorities didn't detect any more traces of a gasoline additive in Lake Tawakoni on Tuesday as the cleanup of last week's half-million- gallon gasoline spill continued.

Moderate showers didn't slow down cleanup efforts. A pipeline break early Friday spilled 500,000 gallons of gasoline into a wheat field and East Caddo Creek.

Officials said Monday that samples of water in the northern edge of the lake, where the creek runs into it, indicated low levels of the gasoline additive MTBE. But on Tuesday, authorities said the levels were barely detectable because of a combination of factors, such as the cleanup efforts and no water flow from the creek.

Greg Fife, on-scene coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency, said the level of MTBE had "dropped even farther, which is very, very good news."

"In the exact same spot, they dropped to almost negligible amounts . . . just barely above the detection level," Mr. Fife said.

"We are really in the mop-up and reclamation phase," he said.

The lake, owned and operated by the Sabine River Authority, supplies water to more than 10 cities and water corporations, including Dallas, Greenville, Commerce, West Tawakoni and Cash Water Supply. Some cities have shut down their intake systems from the lake as a precaution, while others have continued to receive their supply.

The cities of Dallas and Greenville have shut down their intakes.

The lake provides Dallas with 25 percent to 30 percent of the its water supply. It shut down its intake Friday as a precaution and is performing annual maintenance on its pumps.

The pumps for the city of Greenville, which gets 40 percent of its supply from the lake, automatically shut down Friday because of the bad weather. It remained shut down Tuesday as a precaution.

Mr. Fife said Commerce had shut down its intake temporarily, but was planning to open it Wednesday. Commerce receives as much as 50 percent of its water supply from the lake.

Customers of Cash Water Supply, which serves an area near the lake, continue to get all their water from it.

The city of West Tawakoni temporarily shut its intake Monday, but restarted it a short time later after officials determined that there was no danger. The city gets 100 percent of its water supply from the lake.

"We are continuing to sample . . . and will be collecting samples, probably for the next few days, until all this is cleared up," said Jack Tatum, development coordinator for the Sabine River Authority. "Everything is looking good."

Mr. Tatum said no permanent damage to the lake is expected because of the minimal MTBE contamination. MTBE, which is used to help clean the air in urban areas, is water-soluble, and cleansing a water supply of it could be expensive, officials said.

"As far as the lake is considered, we are in good shape," he said.

The spilled fuel has been contained behind booms and dams about four miles north of the lake. EPA officials said the MTBE may have gotten into the lake by flowing in the water under the booms.

"We haven't found anything to lead us to believe that it would cause harm to any of our water customers," said Shirley Smith, business manager for Cash Water Supply. "Of course we are concerned, and we are monitoring. I mean we are not taking this lightly."

The pipeline's owner and operator is Explorer Pipeline Co. of Tulsa, Okla. The line, built in 1973 and last tested three years ago, is buried about 4 feet underground.

The company plans to send a portion of the pipeline that broke to the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington for analysis, officials said.

The gasoline represented about 2 percent of the daily flow through the 1,400-mile-long pipeline from the Gulf Coast to Indiana

http://dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/49227_GASSPILL15.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 15, 2000.