Health and Environmental Assessment of MTBE

Report to the Governor and Legislature of the State of California as Sponsored by SB 521. Delivered to the Governor's office on November 12, 1998


All documents below are in pdf format. If you do not already have a copy of the Adobe Acrobat reader you will need to download and install it in order to read the documents.

Fact Sheet
A three page summary of the report.

Press Advisory
Released 11/12/98.

The RFP and Description of the Grant Recipients
The final report was delivered to the governor's office on November 12, 1998. The executive summary and full report are available along with the press advisory and a short fact sheet. All the documents are in pdf format.

Peer Review Comments About This Report
The Cal EPA has posted a summary of the Peer Review Comments to this report. This site also includes transcripts of the public hearings.

Author's Responses to Reviewer's Comments;


Volume I: Summary & Recommendations
  1. Executive Summary, Recommendations, Summary (295KB, 61 pgs., complete). You can also download the errata for this volume.
    Arturo Keller, Ph.D., John Froines, Ph.D., Catherine Koshland, Ph.D., John Reuter, Ph.D., Irwin (Mel) Suffet, Ph.D., Jerold Last, Ph.D.


Vol II: Human Health Effects
  1. An Evaluation of the Scientific Peer-Reviewed Research and Literature on the Human Health Effects of MTBE, its Metabolites, Combustion Products and Substitute Compounds (1.4MB, 267 pgs., complete)
    John Froines, Ph.D., Michael Collins, Ph.D., Elinor Fanning, Ph.D., Rob McConnell, M.D., Wendie Robbins, Ph.D., Ken Silver, M.S., Heather Kun, Rajan Mutialu, Russell Okoji, MSPH, Robert Taber, M.D., MPH, Naureen Tareen, MPH, Catherine Zandonella


Volume III: Air Quality & Ecological Effects
  1. Evaluation of Automotive MTBE Combustion Byproducts (242KB, 53 pgs., Figures 1-18 and Appendix A at end of document omitted)
    Catherine Koshland, Ph.D., Robert Sawyer, Ph.D., Donald Lucas, Ph.D., and Pamela Franklin

  2. Effects of Oxygenates on Vehicle System Components (172KB, 27 pgs., complete, but tables at end are "fax" quality)
    Elvin R. Monzon and Ian M. Kennedy, Ph.D.S

  3. Toxicity of MTBE to Freshwater Organisms (76KB, 19 pgs., complete)
    Inge Werner, Ph.D. and David Hinton, Ph.D.

  4. Acute Testicular Toxicity of MTBE and Breakdown Products in Lab Mice (99KB, 23 pgs., complete, but titles in tables at end are damaged)
    Joseph Billitti, Ph.D., Brian Faulkner, and Barry Wilson, Ph.D.

  5. Ecological Risks of MTBE in Surface Waters (39KB, 10 pgs., complete) Michael L. Johnson, Ph.D.

Volume IV: Ground & Surface Water
  1. Impacts of MTBE on California Groundwater with errata inserted in red (640KB, 100 pgs., Figures 4, 9-11 and table G4 omitted from original, titles for figures in appendix H damaged). You can also download the errata for this volume. Download Figures 4, 9-11, and table G4.
    Graham E. Fogg, Ph.D., Mary E. Meays, James C. Trask, Christopher T. Green, Eric M. LaBolle, Timothy W. Shenk, and Dennis E. Rolston, Ph.D.

  2. Leaking Underground Storage Tanks (USTs) as Point Sources of MTBE to Groundwater and Related MTBE-UST Compatibility Issues (151KB, 21 pgs., complete) Kevin Couch, Thomas Young, Ph.D.

  3. Methyl tert-Butyl Ether in Surface Drinking Water Supplies (113KB, 45 pgs., all tables and figures omitted, blank pages represent space holders for the figures and tables) John E. Reuter, Ph.D., Brant C. Allen, and Charles R. Goldman, Ph.D. You can download low resolution pdfs of the tables and figures (originals were scanned and then converted to pdf).
    Figures: Fig1, Fig2, Table1, FigD1, FigD2, FigD3, FigD4, FigT1
    District Data Tables: Lassen, Stockton, Visalia, Hollywood, SantaBarbara, Metropolitan, SanDiego, SantaAna, Shasta, SanFrancisco1, SanFrancisco2, Sacramento, Monterey, SantaRosa, Merced, SanBernadino

  4. Transport and Fate Modeling of MTBE in Lakes and Reservoirs (1.1MB, 41 pgs., not complete)
    Stephen A. McCord & S. Geoffrey Schladow, Ph.D.


Volume V: Risk Assessment, Exposure Assessment, Water Treatment & Cost-Benefit Analysis
  1. Exposure of Humans to MTBE from Drinking Water (213K, 13 pgs., complete, includes the tables omitted in the paper version)
    Michael L. Johnson, Ph.D.

  2. MTBE: Evaluation of Management Options for Water Supply and Ecosystem Impacts (129K, 48 pgs., complete)
    Orit Kalman, Jay R. Lund, Ph.D.

  3. Cost and Performance Evaluation of Treatment Technologies for MTBE-Contaminated Water (643K, 41 pgs., complete, includes thefigures omitted in the paper version)
    Arturo A. Keller, Ph.D., Orville C. Sandall, Ph.D, Robert G. Rinker, Ph.D., Marie M. Mitani, Britta Bierwagen, Michael J. Snodgrass, Ph.D.

  4. Estimated Cost Associated with Biodegradation of MTBE (30K, 7 pgs., not complete)
    Brett M. Converse and Edward D. Schroeder, Ph.D.

  5. Reactivity and By-Products of MTBE Resulting from Water Treatment Processes (302K, 25 pgs., complete)
    Paulette Chang and Thomas Young, Ph.D.

  6. Sorption for Removing MTBE from Drinking Water (718K, 27 pgs., not complete)
    Irwin (Mel) Suffet, Ph.D., Thomas Shih, M.S., Eakalak Khan, Ph.D., Medhi Wangpaichitr, Wei Rong, M.S., Jenifer Kong

  7. An Integral Cost-benefit Analysis of Gasoline Formulations Meeting California Phase II Reformulated Gasoline Requirements (430KB, 56 pgs., complete. Includes table 14 omitted in the paper version.)
    Arturo A. Keller, Ph.D., Linda Fernandez, Ph.D., Samuel Hitz, Heather Kun, Alan Peterson, Britton Smith, Masaru Yoshioka



Omitted Tables
We inadvertantly omitted tables or figures from three chapters in the original paper documents. You can download the updated documents or just the omitted tables and figures below.
  • Table 1 and 2 from the end of volume 5, chapter 1, Exposure of Humans to MTBE from Drinking Water by Michael L. Johnson were omitted. You can view the updated chapter or just the omitted tables.
  • The figures a the end of volume 5 chapter 3, Cost and Performance Evaluation of Treatment Technologies for MTBE-Contaminated Water by Arturo A. Keller, et. al. were omitted. You can view the updated chapter or just the omitted figures.
  • Table 14 at the end of volume 5 chapter 7, An Integral Cost-benefit Analysis of Gasoline Formulations Meeting California Phase II Reformulated Gasoline Requirements by Arturo A. Keller, et. al. was also omitted. You can view the updated chapter or just the omitted table.
    • Because we wanted to upload the files in as timely a manner as possible, some figures and tables from the original paper documents have been omitted. The authors can also be contacted directly for copies of the tables.

Errata for Volumes 1 and 4
Minor corrections have been submitted by Graham Fogg to volumes 1 and 4 are available as erratta below.

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