Underground Storage Tanks Threating Our Health

In a report prepared by the Sierra Club, leaking Underground Storage Tanks (UST) are posing a health threat to one hundred million people in the United States.

According to the report, there are 680,000 USTs and a backlog of 130,000 cleanups with another 9,000 new leaks discovered annually. These UST post a serious threat to the groundwater in America.

Chemicals leaking from compromised USTs are able to contaminate vast amounts of land. For example, one gallon of petroleum can contaminate one million gallons of water. More than one hundred million people drink groundwater from states with a backlog of cleanups.

What is even worse is that there is money available for these cleanups but they are not getting done. The US Federal government has a surplus of $2.4 billion that it has collected from a fee on gasoline sales but the current administration proposed to spend only $73 million of those surplus funds for cleanup projects in 2006 - that is just 3% of the available surplus funds.

The following chart shows the number of people drinking groundwater in the states with the biggest backlogs of UST cleanups pending.



This is terrifying stuff! Read the entire report by the Sierra Club here.

Then, if you don't already have a water filter in your home, get one!

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