Home >> Sabine River Watershed Management Program >> Special Reports >> Summary Report of MtBE Contamination in Lake Tawakoni from Gasoline Pipeline Rupture

Water Availability

Water Conservation

Water Quality

Lake Levels & River Conditions

Recreation & Parks

Economic Development

About the Authority

On March 9, 2000, a 28-inch gasoline pipeline owned and operated by Explorer Pipeline Company ruptured several miles northwest of Greenville, Texas and released an estimated 600,000 gallons of reformulated gasoline into a pasture. The spill drained into a tributary of East Caddo Creek approximately 28 creek miles upstream from Lake Tawakoni, a reservoir owned and operated by the Sabine River Authority of Texas (SRA). The reformulated gasoline contained methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MtBE), which is difficult to remove from natural waters due to its chemical properties. Rainfall the next day flushed a significant amount of the spilled gasoline down the creek into Lake Tawakoni. 

This report is a summary of SRA's involvement in the events surrounding the gasoline spill.

View or Download All or Portions of the Report

Files denoted by require the Adobe Acrobat Viewer - see Helper Applications for download and installation instructions.

Entire Report [ HTML | PDF (11.8 Mb) | Compressed (9.2 Mb) ]  Note: does not include Figure ES.1, which is available below

Cover Page (18 Kb)

Executive Summary Pages i - v (18 Kb)

Figure ES.1 [ Low Resolution (198 Kb) | High Resolution (7.7 Mb) ]

Table of Contents Pages 1 - 2 (15 Kb)

1. Introduction Pages 3 - 13 (6 Mb)

2. Event Chronology Pages 14 - 21 (169 Kb)

3. Spill Event and Initial Response Pages 22 - 24 (13 Kb)

4. Monitoring Activities Pages 25 - 42 (4.8 Mb)

5. Treatment and Remediation Pages 43 - 47 (238 Kb)

6. Agency Involvement Pages 48 - 51 (179 Kb)

7. Water Suppliers and Users Pages 52 - 55 (97 Kb)

8. Public Involvement Page 56 (8 Kb)

9. Continuing Issues Page 57 (8 Kb)

10. References Pages 58 - 59 (13 Kb)

The Summary Report was prepared by Freese and Nichols, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas.