
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 13, 1990                   TAG: 9007140407
SECTION: SMITH MOUNTAIN TIMES                    PAGE: SMT-3   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: CHRISTINA A. SAMUELS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GASOLINE LEAK CLOSES GROCERY'S KITCHEN

Gasoline in the well water used by a grocery store in Bedford County has caused the Department of Agriculture to close down the kitchen, depriving the store of its main source of income, said Doris McGhee Daniels, owner of McGhee's Grocery on Virginia 24.

Underground petroleum storage tanks owned by Daniels are considered the cause of the contamination in the water used by the store and a nearby trailer park.

The lines from the tanks to the two gasoline pumps had to be repaired for leaks two years ago. Before the repairs, gasoline had oozed to the surface of the concrete in front of the store.

The well water's level of benzene, a cancer-causing hydrocarbon in gasoline, is 20 times the acceptable level indicated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The water also was found to contain methyl tert-butyl, a highly explosive additive in gasoline.

The inspection July 5 of Daniels' food service operation was routine, said Art Dell'Aria, chief of food inspection for the State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Regulations say Daniels must have clean, pressurized water for washing her hands and cooking utensils. The water Daniels was using, brought in from her home in Chamblissburg, was not sufficient, Dell'Aria said.

Daniels cannot prepare food in the store until there is a pressurized water system in place. But filtration of the contaminated well is expected to cost $6,600 a year, which Daniels says she cannot afford. Virginia regulations on underground storage tanks require Daniels to pay for any damage to the ground water, including cleanup and restoration of a water supply.

The State Water Control Board offered to install a filtration system in January, but Daniels refused because she had to pay the full cost of installation and maintenance.

Since then, the board determined that Daniels is eligible for assistance in restoring the water supply. The maintenance costs on the filtration system will be handled by a special fund for two years. However, a contract to install the system will take a minimum of 30 to 60 days to obtain - too long, Daniels says, to be without a kitchen.

Dave Chance, a State Water Control Board manager for leaking underground storage tank remediations, said, "The real tragedy of this thing is if Ms. Daniels had accepted the alternate water supply offered back in January, none of this would have happened."

"That's $500 a month just to have water," Daniels said. "Who can pay that?"

by CNB