Los Angeles - The harmful bacteria E. Coli was first detected last Thursday in the water distribution system that serves the small community of Gorman California. This finding led to the close of the town’s restaurants, which often serve as stopovers from I-5, and residents were immediately advised to boil their water before usage to avoid illness. E. Coli can prove to be a fatal bacteria, most harmful to children and the elderly, yet there have been no reports of illness in the town to date.

Gorman may be only a small community whose water is known to be contaminated with E. Coli, yet it is not the only town in California subject to pollution. According to the Water Education Foundation,   “nonpoint source pollution, which consists of the accumulation of runoff from city streets, construction sites and agricultural fields, spills and abandoned mines is the leading cause of pollution.”  The greater Los Angeles area is most definitely subject to as much if not more pollution than areas like Gorman. However, according to Jim Glennon, the owner of Malibu Water, when it comes to water pollution, “E. Coli is not the problem; getting rid of it is easy” but it is MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether), a widely used gasoline additive “that you can see labeled right on the pump” that we should worry about. 

Glennon claims that because MTBE, a potential carcinogen that contaminates water,  also improves air quality, there has been an ongoing battle between Clean Air Resources and Water Resources on its usage, and emphasizes that “We are watching Sacramento (the location of the State Water Resources Control Board) very carefully.”

According to a Congressional Research Service Report from the National Council for Science and the Environment, released June 19, 2006, the Clean Air Act did in fact require the use of cleaner-burning Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) in all the nation’s polluted areas in 1995, yet this act never specifically required the use of MTBE itself. MTBE has been commonly instituted due to its low cost, yet using ethanol, or another alternative oxygenate in its place, could potentially end the battle between clean air and water.

Fortunately the CRS report also claims that not only did “Congress provide a major incentive to the production of ethanol in the Energy Policy Act of 2005” but “ To replace MTBE, refiners are switching to ethanol as swiftly as they can, leading temporarily to supply shortages and higher prices,” that are projected to end by the end of June.

Since the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power tests the water at approximately 300 sites, 365 days a year, Los Angeles residents should not worry as much about instances of bacteria such as  E. Coli, but about maintaining an awareness, and active stance with regard to contaminants such as MTBE.

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