Research Article: Factors Affecting Hydrocarbon Vapor Transport from Leaking Petroleum Storage Tanks to Buildings

Abstract

Leaking underground storage tanks present threats to groundwater, aquatic resources, and drinking water quality. Beyond that, however, migrating contaminants present a range of threats to residential, commercial, and industrial structures as vapors move through soils and accumulate indoors. The most severe vapor impact threats are explosion and fire. A less dramatic effect is diminished health due to reduced air quality. This study is a preliminary analysis of the geophysical site characteristics that contribute to vapor impacts in Texas. Bivariate analysis is used to evaluate the strength of prediction of vapor impacts using soil characteristics, groundwater depth, distances to impacted structures, presence of free products, and rainfall amounts. Analysis indicates that tanks leaking gasoline products that phase separate in clayey soils with shallow water tables and that are near structures are more likely to generate vapor impacts after a heavy rain.