MANAGING UNDERGROUND-STORAGE TANKS IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS - A GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION-SYSTEMS APPROACH

Fuels contained in underground storage tanks (USTs) are a major source of soil and ground water contamination. Effective management of the p roblem at the urban level is difficult due to a large number of tanks and a vast array of factors (e.g., tank characteristics, geology) that determine environmental hazards. The problem is compounded by frequen t abandonment and reuse of service stations, which makes it difficult to track the status of underground tanks. Geographic information syste ms (GIS) are ideally suited to organizing location and attribute data for variables that are pertinent to the UST management problem. A GIS- based UST management system was developed and applied to 136 current a nd former gasoline service stations in Denton, Texas. The system is ef fective for tank inventory and can be applied in a proactive fashion t o identify potentially problematic facilities. In the event of a leak or spill, the management system can support the implementation of reac tive measures to mitigate subsurface contamination. Potential benefici aries of such a system include planning departments, environmental reg ulatory agencies, emergency management officials, lending institutions , gasoline distributors, and oil companies.