More on water quality improvements

Precious Water
Oil used to be called “black gold.”  Today, water—pure, clean water—may prove to be even more precious. The oil and natural gas industry invests billions of dollars in protecting America’s waterways, researching the environmental effects of crude and refined oil and implementing the latest technological advances for spill and leak prevention. 

In 2000, the total volume of oil spilled was up 21.7 percent over 1999 due to one large tanker spill.  However, the amount of oil spilled by facilities was down 31.2 percent over 1999.  More than three quarters of spills in 2000 were less than 10 gallons. During 2000 in the Gulf of Mexico, 3,900 platforms produced 523,250,0001 barrels of oil, spilling only 323 barrels.  During the last 10 years, the frequency of large spills—defined as 10,000 or more gallons—in U.S. navigable waters has declined 57 percent. To learn more, see Oil Spills in U.S. Waters.

The nation’s groundwater is also better protected. The volume of oil spilled from pipelines, railroads, and tank trucks has declined 60 percent since 1991.  In addition, improved clean-up techniques enable 57 to 75 percent of oil spilled from pipelines to be recovered and used. 

New storage tanks, both above and below ground, are less susceptible to corrosion and overflow, two primary causes of ground water contamination. EPA reporting data on releases from underground storage tanks (USTs) show reductions of 50 percent between 1999 and 2001—from approximately 37,000 releases in 1999, to 14,000 in 2000, to 7,000 in 2001 (1).

Industry is committed to a goal of zero spills and leaks—working toward a future in which oil and water never mix. For more information on spill prevention, see API’s report, Oil Spills in U.S. Waters.

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1 API summary of raw EPA data