Why Test?
History Of Testing
America was the first in the word to establish testing and testing procedures for Above Ground Tanks (ASTs) and Underground Storage Tanks (USTs). In 1971, a Mobil Oil station owner suspected a leak or at least knew his inventory of fuel was shrinking without any apparent reason. One day the gas station owner challenged a couple of smart engineers who came in to his station to buy racing fuel for their cars if they could help find any leaks if he had them. Since that day, a new industry was born to look for and repair leaks as well as protecting our most precious resource – water.
Not only did UST and AST tank testing procedures contribute to protecting the environment, station owners realized a substantial amount of savings from taking a proactive approach to managing their product inventory. Tank and line testing became a “win/win” for all stakeholders. The government wanted to make sure the environment was being protected, the public wanted to do the same and make sure their air was safe to breath and water was safe to drink. Gas station owners and other industrial, government, and commercial organizations began seeing this as a cost effective approach. Eventually, everyone came to realize they can save money while becoming a good “corporate citizen” locally as well as globally.
What We Found About Testing
Since the first “release “or leak was identified and repaired in 1971, the industry began paying more attention to what was really happening to underground tanks, above ground tanks as well as lines and leak detectors.
Some of the first tank and line testers in the United States estimated that they found leaks in lines or tanks at about 45% of the gas stations and other industrial sites they tested. We cannot confirm the exact percentage but never-the-less the leakage percentage was high and had to be addressed.
In a nutshell, the petroleum industry found several dynamics going on:
No matter how great the equipment and installation is, tanks can and sometimes do leak. There is no perfect leak free system.
Small tank and line leaks and large tank and line leaks are leaks and will cause big problems with lots of additional expense.
The cost of leaks can be staggering over time (money and reputation).
Annual testing actually provides a stress test on the vulnerability of the underground petroleum storage tank systems as well as above ground storage petroleum storage tank systems (USTs and ASTs) and in most times extends the life span of these systems
Substantial savings are generated by finding and repairing “undetected Leaks”.
Annual tank and line testing protects our precious water supplies and contributes to cleaner air.
A proactive approach to testing storage tank systems identifies the weak spots before they become big issues
Annual tank and line testing allows organizations to establish standards and a best practice approach to safety and environment
Finally, there is a peace of mind for the station owner that all systems are fine and doing well.
EPAs Role & 3rd Party Testing
Born in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov/ opened its doors in downtown Washington, D.C., on December 2, 1970. The EPA was established to consolidate in one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection. EPA's mission is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment—air, water, and land—upon which life depends. For more than 30 years, the EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people.
When it quickly became apparent that petroleum based products were contaminating water, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stepped in and began a process to protect America’s water and air interests. The EPA developed processes to verify non-leaking systems from leaking systems. Once this was accomplished, The EPA started setting standards of performance for tank and leak detection equipment.
In 1988, the EPA develops a “Petroleum Storage Law” (http://www.epa.gov/history/index.htm) issuing comprehensive and stringent requirements for nearly two million underground storage tanks, half of which are used to store gasoline at service stations. The EPA wanted to “ensure that underground storage tanks no longer pose a public health or environmental threat”. At that time, it was estimated by the EPA that over 80% of the petroleum storage tanks in use were unprotected bare-steel tanks which were most likely to corrode and leak. The EPA estimated the incremental costs to the industry of the technical standards to be $2.5 billion a year with an incremental benefit of $2.8 billion (source: EPA).
The EPA began establishing third party (3rd party) test and performance standards. In 1991 independent labs began to certify that the equipment used meets the standards. In 1992 the Petro-tite line tester was the first equipment certified by a third party and approved by the EPA.
Over a period of time, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began playing a larger role in the testing procedures of underground petroleum storage tank systems as well as above ground storage petroleum storage tank systems. Contrary to what people outside of the industry believe, the EPA does not actually certify testing equipment. The EPA establishes the standards or guidelines and ensues testing is performed to these standards established through federal regulations. Manufacturers of the tank testing and leak detection equipment used in testing must certify that their equipment meets or exceeds the EPA standards. The EPA leaves it up to the individual states to verify the equipment which generally happens through an unbiased third party qualified to make sure the equipment meets or exceeds the standards.
It should be noted that the regulations The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversees today were written over twenty years ago, therefore the rules have not necessarily caught up with changes in the industry. The EPA is currently considering revising the federal underground tank regulations to meet the challenges we face today in preventing leaky tanks. In reality, most of the certified equipment used in the industry today far exceeds the current EPA regulations.
Why use third party testing (3rd party testing)
In order to avoid the potential for conflict of interest, most regulatory agencies agree that the best approach to compliance testing for USTs and ASTs is through 3rd party testing. 3rd party testing provides an independent and unbiased confirmation of system performance because the 3rd party testing companies do not have a stake in the final results. 3rd party testing companies usually do not guarantee passing results, they will let a station owner know if their system passes or fails but they are no hired to make sure a site passes.
3rd party testing can identify areas of concern prior to a problem getting out of control. Third party testing also separates liability from the company installing the system; the installing company’s motivation for your system to work may be more financially motivated.
Because Third party testing companies focus primarily on testing underground petroleum storage tank systems as well as above ground storage petroleum storage tank systems (USTs and ASTs) they are more likely to be up-to-date on current regulations; it’s their business to be up-to-date.3rd party testing also completes the “circle of sustainability”.