A gas station on Taipei’s Zhongshan N Road was fined NT$100,000 for a benzene leak that has polluted groundwater in a 1,300m2 area, the Taipei City Government Department of Environmental Protection said yesterday.
Division chief Huang Li-lin (黃莉琳) said tests of Taipei’s 76 gas stations undertaken last year found benzene levels in groundwater samples from the Zhongshan N Road gas station were 2.4 times higher than the maximum permissible level.
The benzene reading was 0.122 milligram per liter (mg/L), compared with the legal level of 0.05 per mg/L, Huang said.
Huang said the contamination was caused by leaks in fuel storage tanks, which have since been repaired.
Benzene is toxic, and harmful to humans and the environment, Huang said.
However, as Taipei residents do not use groundwater for consumption or irrigation, the contamination does not pose any health risks, Huang added.
Huang said the department marked the contaminated area as a remediation site in accordance with the Soil Pollution and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act (土壤及地下水污染整治法) and contacted the city’s land management authorities to register the leak so people do not unknowingly purchase property in the area.
The gas station is to propose remediation plans to clean up the site, which could take one to two years, she said.
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