Another polluted well shut down in Tahoe

Friday, Jan. 15, 1999 | 9:58 a.m.

The South Tahoe Public Utility District ordered the shutdown of the Clement Well on Thursday after detecting the presence of methyl tertiary butyl ether.

The additive known as MTBE is added to some California gasoline to make fuel burn cleaner. But since 1997, contamination has forced the closure of a third of the district's wells around South Lake Tahoe.

Most of the problem was caused by leaking storage tanks that polluted ground water. But utility officials are puzzled by the latest problem because no contamination was detected in ground water near the well. Instead, it was found in water that had been treated.

"The pervasiveness of MTBE is absolutely startling," said Bob Baer, the district's general manager. "We can't find it in the groundwater, and yet it still manages to get into the drinking water."

A bill introduced in the California Legislature would ban MTBE statewide.

"There should be no doubt that the only way to prevent MTBE contamination of our drinking was is to keep MTBE out of the Tahoe Basin - period," Baer said.