Water pollution from gasoline

Kramer WH. 1982. Ground-water pollution from gasoline. Ground Water Monit Rev 2 18-22. 

Kramer, W. H., 1982, Groundwater Pollution from Gasoline Ground Water Monitoring Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 18-22. 

A great attraction of hydrogen is pollution-free combustion while a host of undesirable compounds are emitted from gasoline and diesel fuel vehicles, or formed from their emissions. The main combustion product of hydrogen is water ... 

But ethanol cannot be blended into gasoline at the refinery because it is hygroscopic and picks up traces of water in pipelines and storage tanks. Also, ethanol shipped away from the Midwest, where it is made by com fermentation, would add to the cost of gasoline. Gasohol may increase air pollution because gasoline containing ethanol evaporates more quickly. Studies and debate continue. 

Air pollution is one of the worst problems caused by industries, agriculture, power stations, aerosols and other chemicals, and coal and other fires. As a result we suffer from headaches, respiratory tract infections and ailments, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, eye problems, and eventually a profound breakdown in health manifested by various cancers. Other environmental hazards include lead from gasoline — which causes hyperactivity and birth defects — acid rain, carbon monoxide poisoning, water pollution, and radiation. Clinical ecologists treat illnesses and disorders that they believe stem from an individual s reaction to these environmental factors. They practice what is known as environmental medicine, and they estimate that between 10 and 30% of the population suffers from some form of ecological disease (Thomas, 1997 and General References). 

In the United States, The Clean Air Act of 1970 mandated the reduction of automotive pollutant emissions. The most effective way to accomplish the reduction of emissions was through the use of a catalytic converter. It s shaped like a muffler and connected to the exhaust system of an automobile. It has a solid catalyst, either palladium or platinum, inside. When the exhaust gases pass over the catalyst, the catalytic converter helps to complete the oxidation of the hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and water. In other words, it helps to change the harmful gases from gasoline to mostly harmless products. 

Methyl terf-butyl ether (MTBE) was once used as a gasoline octane booster, but was phased out after it appeared as a low-level water pollutant in the United States. Levels of this chemical in recreational lakes and reservoirs were attributed largely to emissions of unburned fuel from recreational motorboats and personal watercraft having two-cycle engines that discharge their exhausts directly to the water. 

A significant health concern with particles, especially those from combustion sources, is their ability to carry toxic metals. Of these, lead is of the greatest concern because it usually comes closest to being at a toxic level. Problems with particulate lead in the atmosphere have been greatly reduced by the elimination of tetraethyl lead as a gasoline additive, an application that used to spew tons of lead into the atmosphere every day. Another heavy metal that causes considerable concern is mercury, which can enter the atmosphere bound to particles or as vapor-phase atomic mercury. Airborne mercury from coal combustion can become a serious water pollution problem, leading to unhealthy accumulations of this toxic element in some fish. Other metals that can cause health problems in particulate matter are beryllium, cadmium, chromium, vanadium, nickel, and arsenic (a metalloid). 

The partial natnre of classification schemes suggests that to understand the totality of the risks it poses, a toxic chemical is best viewed from several perspectives at once. For example, risks to human health and the environment due to lead can be evaluated on the basis of exposure to lead as an air pollutant from leaded gasoline exposure to lead as a constituent in paint in old houses exposure to lead in drinking water that passes through lead pipes or steel pipes containing lead solder exposure... 

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