Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 6, 1990 TAG: 9007070419
SECTION: SMITH MOUNTAIN TIMES PAGE: SMT1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: CHRISTINA A. SAMUELS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The storage tanks for the two gasoline pumps at McGhee's Grocery - not far from Staunton River High School on Virginia 24 - have been in use since Daniels' parents ran the store. After 40 years in the ground, corrosion and age were causing the lines leading to the pumps to leak. Repairing the ruptured lines cost $1,700.
But repairing the lines did not end the problem. Before the leak was fixed, gasoline had seeped into the ground water and contaminated the well of a trailer park behind the store, forcing the residents to bring in drinking water.
Now, Daniels faces thousands of dollars in expenses to restore the water supply - expenses she says she cannot afford.
"I'll do anything," Daniels said. "I just don't have the money."
Daniels' mother rents the trailer lots behind the store. In spring of last year, the residents noticed a strange odor and taste to their well water.
"It didn't smell so much like gas then; it just smelled like something foreign," Daniels said. The water was tested for bacteria and came back clean.
But the water still tasted bad and was getting worse, so it was tested for petroleum products. The results showed the water had 20 times the acceptable level for benzene - a cancer-causing hydrocarbon found in gasoline - as well as low levels of other gasoline components. Because Daniels owns the tanks, she is responsible for taking care of any contamination and restoring water to the trailer park residents.
Virginia regulations on underground storage tanks state that the owner must have $200,000 - in cash, bond or self-insurance - for cleanup and compensation of anyone harmed by a spill. However, some small businesses, like McGhee's Grocery, are finding it difficult to invest that much money into their storage tanks.
The state Water Control Board has sent Daniels notices of her regulation violations every 30 days since Sept. 18, 1989.
The first violation, for "failure to submit a tank tightness report," requires the tanks be checked to make sure they're not still leaking - a $200 to $500 procedure, said James Sparks of Environmental Options, a firm that transports hazardous waste.
However, the second violation, which requires determining the area of contamination, can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $70,000. The procedure requires digging a series of test wells and testing the water, until the exact area of contamination is known.
"We're not trying to drive anyone to bankruptcy," said Dave Chance, a geologist with the Water Control Board who works with leaking underground storage tanks. He said there are funds that can be used to help pay for cleanup and restoration of the water supply.
That money, however, doesn't really "kick in" until owners pay their share, Chance said. The board will have to examine Daniels' financial records to figure out how much she is able to pay.
The board then will be able to help provide an alternative water supply, Chance said. He said he thinks $25,000 will be enough to get most of the work completed.
However, Sparks said the fact that the gasoline has traveled so far is a bad sign. "It would not be inconceivable" for the gasoline to be a mile down the road, Sparks said.
Cleanup will be extensive, he added. "I don't want to say forever and ever, but you'll be there a long time."
Daniels has already lost money over the gasoline contamination.
When the Bedford County Health Department learned about the problem, she was told to drill a new well more that 250 feet away from the first well to provide water for the trailer park.
Mike Painter, a district engineer with the state Board of Health Office of Water Programs, chose the new well site last July because it was far from the first well and from areas of development. However, the new well had to be located downhill from the first.
Although the water from the second well was not as contaminated as the first, the concentration of benzene was still almost five times above the acceptable level.
In addition, Painter detected methyl tert-butyl, an explosive chemical found in gasoline. Concerned that a buildup of methyl tert-butyl gas could cause an explosion, Painter recommended that nothing be done in the vicinity of the wells that could cause a spark, and that the water not be used for any purpose. The residents had been told earlier that the water could be used for washing and bathing "at their own discretion."
However, Painter could not enforce his recommendations, because he was working only in an advisory capacity to the Bedford Health Department.
The second well, which was never used, cost Daniels $2,066 to dig.
Daniels also lost $1,800 in back rent when she took some former tenants to court and they told the judge of the problems with the water. "All the judge could say was, `benzene, benzene, benzene,' " she said.
Daniels said she has been expecting "lawsuits galore" over the water. But most trailer park residents - who pay, at the most, $60 a month rent - seem unworried about the contaminated water.
Allen Orange has lived in the trailer park since November. He brings in drinking water from Vinton for himself and his pregnant wife. "They say they're supposed to fix it," Orange said.
Daniels' sister, Shirley Smith, has been living in a trailer for about four years. She remembers when the water "just started tasting real bad and smelling real bad."
The gasoline-tainted water has since stained her sink and toilet, but otherwise it washes and lathers like regular water, Smith said. She gets her drinking water from her sister's home in Chamblissburg.
Daniels' son, Matt, also lives in one of the trailers. He said he'll be relieved when the water supply is restored and his wife, Trina, can stop carrying in water from her parents' house in Stewartsville. One of the problems with the water is "when I wash my car, it leaves a film on it," he said.
The Water Control Board has closed down Daniels' tanks and plans to put a filtration system on the well. It will cost $6,600 per year to maintain. Daniels is also paying a lawyer $85 an hour to go through her financial records and the underground storage tank regulations.
Daniels doubts her storage tanks are still leaking because she keeps an inventory of the gasoline purchased. She also said the contamination might not have been from the leak, but from years of oil washed in off the nearby highway or careless customers who overfill their gas tanks. "I've seen people let the gas just flow on the ground and waste a gallon," Daniels said.
She also said the petroleum company that formerly owned the storage tanks gave them to her because they wanted to avoid the problems new state regulations might bring. "They were real smart," she said. "They gave me everything. They knew what was coming down."
by CNB