The Plainview Water District, one of Long Island's largest drinking water suppliers, recently filed suit in New York Supreme Court in Nassau County to prevent MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) from contaminating its supply system. According to information obtained from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, MTBE, more than 80 times above the applicable cleanup guideline, has been detected at a former Mobil gas station approximately 450 feet away from the district's nearest supply well. A second well is located nearly 800 feet away.

Paul Granger, PE, superintendent of the Plainview Water District, said, "Even though Plainview's drinking water is totally free of MTBE, we are filing suit to make certain that MTBE at the former gas station never contaminates our wells." By being acutely aware of the potential for MTBE problems in our district, we identified this pollution threat before it could reach our supply system and are now determined to clean it up."

MTBE is a toxic and persistent chemical added to gasoline sold on Long Island and in many other areas around the nation. MTBE released into Long Island's environment by spills or leaking storage tanks can contaminate groundwater that supplies drinking water for all residents of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. A total of 126 public water wells on Long Island have reported MTBE contamination.

According to Paul Granger, "This is the first lawsuit filed by a Long Island Water District to clean up MTBE problems that threaten the sole source of drinking water for more than three million people." Plainview residents will be pleased to know that this lawsuit will help make sure that their drinking water remains free of MTBE."

MTBE underneath the former Mobil gas station at 1101 Old Country Road has been detected at 840 parts per billion (ppb), more than 80 times the 10 ppb groundwater cleanup guideline. Unless the MTBE is cleaned up, it will be drawn into the nearby water supply wells. Treatment systems for MTBE are extremely costly and require years to be designed, installed and tested. Granger noted that, "The water district will take every measure to ensure that the water supplied to our customers will be free of MTBE." Granger added, "We fully understand that Mobil will be held accountable for their actions."

The District's lawsuit specifically calls for the following:

* The immediate remediation and cleanup of the MTBE contamination.

* Negligence in contaminating and polluting the groundwater in Plainview and threatening the drinking water wells.

* Failure to warn of the potential hazards of MTBE.

* For punitive damages of $2 billion.

* For compensatory damages of $500 million.

The Plainview Water District provides drinking water to more than 35,000 residents of Plainview and Old Bethpage and is a primary supply on Long Island. Paul Granger is a professional engineer and has served as the superintendent of the Plainview Water District since 1996. Granger has more than 13 years experience as a drinking water engineer on Long Island.