Cleaning an environmental media here – Contaminating an environmental media there

The cleaning of an environmental media resulting in the pollution of others is the outcome from lack of communication, cooperation, and exercised bureaucracy between environmental protection agencies. For instance, Methyl-tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive created to reduce air pollution, resulted in severe water pollution in the Santa Monica, Lake Tahoe, and San Diego Basin.

MTBE became an environmental disaster by the time it was banned in 2004. MTBE leached from fuel storage tanks into the groundwater where it dissolves easily, resulting in faster and further migration, thus contaminating public water systems and private drinking wells. MTBE does not degrade easily and is difficult and costly to remove, it is one of the most persistent pollutants in the environment.

Nowadays, under Mission Valley in San Diego lies the largest pocket of MTBE pollution in the region, location of one of the most precious groundwater sources of the city which has a pumping potential capacity of two (2) million gallons of water a day that could provide water supply for eight thousand family units a day however the major problem is the costly removal of this pollutant.

The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal-EPA) was created to reorganize and unify all environmental agencies and perform under one integrated protection program and strategy, unfortunately, Cal-EPA continues to operate as a collection of boards and commissions without a coherent environmental protection policy. Each board and commission is responsible for a specific type of pollution. Decision-makers do not focus on how their choices affect other areas of the environment.

EPA shall be more aggressive in the implementation of a successful strategic plan, bringing all agencies together and establishing a clear vision of the problem so as to minimize the transfer of pollutants across all media – air, land, and water. Full commitment from the boards and commissions is necessary to paint a picture of where the pollution prevention shall end up and the expected outcomes. The goal in mind is to provide efficient economical solutions for the integration of a unified EPA to prevent further environment disasters.