SANFORD, Fla.,None — The place where you fill up on gas could be contaminating your drinking water. 9 Investigates the thousands of gasoline leaks that could threaten our water supply and found out why lawmakers refused to hold stations responsible and then cut the funding for the cleanup.
Every time Soil & Water Supervisor Steve Barnes passes by a local gas station, he worries about what's leaking underneath it.
THE LIST: Florida's Leaky Gas Stations
"One gallon of gasoline can contaminate a million gallons of drinking water," he said.
For years, Barnes has investigated the staggering number of large gasoline tanks that have rusted and rotted below the stations.
"We've got a huge problem across Florida. We've got 25,000 gas stations that are leaking gasoline, potentially into the aquifer, which is where we get our drinking water," he said.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has a list of all the un-cleaned spills around the state (see the list). Eyewitness News checked locations in the city of Sanford.
Just in Sanford, there are 69 leak sites. There are 45 leaks in Kissimmee, 81 in Melbourne, 94 in Daytona Beach, 281 in Orlando, and the state legislature has not held offenders responsible.
"They didn't want to burden the gasoline companies and oil companies with responsibility to clean up their own mess and they really should have done that," Barnes said.
Instead, taxpayers paid for the cleanup-effort for years through a special fund.
"The only way to run this program was the way they did it," said Pat Moricca with Gasoline Retailers Association.
Moricca is a lobbyist for Florida gas stations. He says the cleanup program stalled a couple of years ago when lawmakers raided the fund and spent tens of millions of dollars elsewhere.
"We've been complaining about it. Because, someplace that needs a cleanup, the money should be there," he said.
Barnes says the fund continues to shrink.
"Historically, it had been almost $200 million a year. That was cut in recent years to $135 million. And now we're down to $35 million for this year," he said.
Barnes says that will have serious consequences.
"Drinking water is something we can't replace," he said.
Our water supply has not yet been contaminated, according to state tests, but environmentalists fear it could and likely will be as thousands of gas spills continue to seep toward our drinking water.
In the early 80s, the city of Belleview's water supply in Marion County was contaminated after 10,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from an underground storage tank at a Union 76 station. The city had to abandon its well. Costs for a new well and cleanup reached several million dollars.
WFTV
