About Leaking Underground Storage Tanks & Why They Matter
As of March 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are 534,534 active underground storage tanks (USTs) at approximately 192,000 facilities with 56,432 LUST releases still requiring cleanup in the United States (EPA 2024).
The EPA details that as of March 2024, Rhode Island has a backlog of 131 cleanups and has the third worst technical compliance rate (29 percent) of UST facilities in the contiguous United States (EPA 2024). The EPA report further specifies that only 37 percent of the USTs in Rhode Island were in compliance with spill prevention requirements as of mid-2024 – the worst in the country.
While the total number of leaks to be cleaned up is relatively small compared to the rest of the nation, it bears observing that the state of Rhode Island is risking the health of its’ residents with such poor compliance standards posing a threat of potential leaks of hazardous hydrocarbons and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) from LUSTs. The research on this topic has found the dangers posed by LUSTs to be profound although oftentimes unnoticeable by people in the area.
Image: Environmental Due Diligence https://a3e.com/leaking-underground-storage-tank-removal-closure/
USTs are primarily used as storage for petroleum products such as gasoline or oil. It is estimated that about 95 percent of all USTs contain gasoline or oil and the remaining 5 percent contain industrial chemicals, pesticides or solvent cleaners (IDEM 2024). Leaks from LUSTs contain Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are known to be carcinogens. Even small concentrations of organic compounds in water can become toxic because they are hydrophobic and will therefore lead to long-term exposures to human tissues such as the liver and kidneys (Hughes et al. 1993, Nadim et al. 2000).
Studies have concluded that humans that drink or shower using contaminated groundwater from LUSTs are at much higher risk of cancer and harmful organ damage. Volatile chemicals such as from these leaks absorb into the groundwater and soil and can linger for decades into the future. One study found that “a site contaminated with organic pollutants may never be restored to its conditions prior to anthropogenic pollution” (Nadim et al. 2000) and another discovered that leaks remained as free LNAPLs (light non-aqueous phase liquid) from organic pollutants remained 20 years after the spill which contaminated the groundwater and soil (Kim and Corapcioglu 2003) Image: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-06/documents/pvi-guide-final-6-10-15.pdf
This analysis focuses on Rhode Island and created a web mapping application that details the positions of Leaking Underground Storage Tanks (LUSTs) as well as Underground Storage Tanks (USTs) that are not yet leaking. The LUST locations are clickable on the embedded map which details more information about the location and the specifics of the LUST. Buffer layers of 100, 200, and 500 meters surround the individual points to visualize the impact around the contamination site.
USTs have a chance to leak and these are also displayed in the web mapping application. Residents can see how near these orange points are to important residential facilities (schools, colleges, hospitals, libraries) and protected groundwater reservoirs and wellhead areas. The residential facilities are displayed as orange diamonds and the groundwater and wellhead areas are blue polygons. Using this tool residents can visualize how their communities are affected by both LUST and UST sites. Additionally, enforcement agencies such as the Department of Environmental Management can utilize this tool to protect communities from USTs in risky areas and LUSTs near pivotal groundwater and wellhead zones where contamination could affect many for years to come.
