Gasoline Contamination: Examples

Gasoline Contamination

The state is installing a $218,000 water treatment system on Main Street in Friendsville to treat groundwater contamination from an underground gasoline tank.

- Cars pollute the air, water and land - Cars today are in fact a lot cleaner than 30 years ago. However, there are more cars driving more miles in more countries - Cars and trucks cause a Lot of air the pollution in the world today, and contribute a Lot to the 6 most common and dangerous air pollutants - China and the USA alone produce close to half of the worlds Carbon Dioxide not all from cars, but interesting just the same - SUVs pollute a Lot more than cars

- Americans use nearly 400 million gallons of gasoline every day (not all in cars) - California alone uses over 40 million gallons per day, about equal to China China is quickly catching up - 400 million gallons will fill a 600 acre lake about 2 feet deep - 400 million gallons per day is nearly 1/2 million acre-feet per year

In 1979, a pipeline carrying crude oil burst and contaminated the underlying aquifer. USGS scientists studying the site found that toxic chemicals leaching from the crude oil were rapidly degraded by natural microbial populations. Significantly, it was shown that the plume of contaminated ground water stopped enlarging after a few years as rates of microbial degradation came into balance with rates of contaminant leaching. This was the first and best-documented example of intrinsic bioremediation in which naturally occurring microbial processes remediates contaminated ground water without human intervention.