Chemical polluting Tahoe-area water shows up 30 miles away

Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 | 10:22 a.m.

Area ranchers are concerned about the discovery of MTBE at the reservoir in Alpine County.

"I'm not sure what to do about it," said Chris Gansberg Jr., a rancher who uses the reclaimed water for pastures and hay production.

"It's a concern not only to me, but it should be to everyone," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Gansberg, a member of the Alpine County Board of Supervisors, said he wasn't surprised to learn that MTBE had made its way into Harvey Place Reservoir.

Thirteen drinking wells in South Lake Tahoe already have been shut down after being contaminated or threatened with contamination from MTBE.

The MTBE, a fuel oxygenate, comes from leaking gasoline storage tanks in the area. The additive is designed to help improve combustion and reduce air pollution but scientists now suspect it is a carcinogen.

The MTBE apparently made its way to the reservoir through South Lake Tahoe's wastewater export system.

Six service stations working to clear MTBE from contaminated areas have been discharging water into the sewer system after a treatment process.

But some supposedly clean water still contains MTBE, said Dawn Forsythe, spokeswoman for the South Tahoe Public Utility District.

The utility's sewage treatment system is unable to remove the chemical, she said.

"It's going all the way through the sewer system, through the treatment system, through the export pipeline, across a stream and now it's in the reservoir," Forsythe said.

The MTBE has been detected in very low levels at the reservoir - less than 1 part per billion.

But the Alpine County supervisors said its enough to make them worry. They said they are bringing the matter to the attention of state lawmakers and California Gov. Gray Davis.

Several lawmakers already are pushing legislation to outlaw MTBE.