State Slow to React to Threat Posed by MTBE, Report Says

California authorities have failed to act quickly and decisively to combat threats to drinking water from the gasoline additive MTBE, a state auditor’s report released Friday says.

The report is the latest in a series of warnings about the additive, which has fouled some drinking water wells, including several in Santa Monica, and threatens many more in California. The report is expected to give added momentum to efforts by environmentalists and others who want to remove MTBE from gasoline.

“The state’s process for regulating the safety of its citizens’ water, and especially for ensuring that gasoline does not contaminate drinking water sources, has multiple shortcomings,” state Auditor Kurt R. Sjoberg found.

State officials, responding to the audit, insisted that their efforts have been adequate.

“We feel that we’ve been prudent in our protection of California’s drinking water supply,” said Rufus Howell, assistant chief of the state health department’s division that oversees drinking water. “People should not be alarmed.”

Howell acknowledged, however, that the “report does bring up some legitimate items that we agree with,” and promised that the department will strengthen its efforts in those areas.

The report, requested by the state Legislature, focused on leaks from underground gasoline storage tanks at thousands of gas stations across the state. When the tanks leak, gasoline and its components can seep into underground water, and may spread to drinking water wells.

As of October, the state had tested 4,430 public drinking water sources for MTBE and found it at 533 of those sources. Only 5% of the water sources, however, contain MTBE at levels that would affect the taste, odor or color of water, the report said.

The auditor called on the Legislature to take the lead on the issue by requiring that the state Department of Health Services adopt standards on the substance, and by requiring more studies of its effects on human health.

Some legislators are already pushing to end its use.

“Unless I see some argument to the contrary,” said Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), “we have got to acknowledge that a colossal misjudgment occurred in the past, and we’ve got to take steps to remove MTBE altogether. The longer we diddle and delay, the worse the problem becomes.”

Oil companies began adding MTBE to gasoline in large amounts in 1995 as part of an effort to reduce smog and comply with strict federal clean air standards.

MTBE has been credited with reducing known carcinogens from the air. But the substance, which may be a carcinogen, seeps into ground water more quickly than other components of gasoline.

The audit found that the state has been slow to test for the presence of MTBE in drinking water and to develop safe standards for its use.

The auditor found that agencies responsible for water quality have failed to communicate with one another.

There was, for example, a nine-month delay in the investigation of MTBE contamination to Santa Monica’s water because of a lack of communication between regional water quality officials and state health officials. State officials contended that they lacked the authority to act.

The loss of MTBE could drive up prices at the pump because it makes up as much as 11% of gasoline.