Customers experiencing engine trouble in their vehicles led to four complaints to the Indiana State Department of Health, said the report.
State authorities only identify the contamination. Rain or snow can enter tanks when they are opened for refilling, but [image-nocss] that may not be the cause. "In my estimation, it's just a poor maintenance," Larry Stump, director of the fuel inspection program at the Health Department, told the newspaper.
Two Health Department employees investigate fuel tanks at 3,007 Indiana stations. Their investigations showed no evidence to prove filling stations are diluting the product purposely, Stump said.
Some independent station owners are struggling in the tough economy, trying to balance rising gasoline prices, customers' demand and the costs to keep their stations running.
Scot Imus, with the Indiana Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, told the Star that companies that pump tens of thousands of gallons of gasoline per year have no reason to shortchange customers. "It's just an unfortunate situation that happens infrequently," he said. "Like anything that's mechanical, there can be hiccups in the system, and those can be addressed."
The Health Department forces stations with problems to close until they are resolved, it added.
Two weeks ago, inspectors found the first problem of the year in tanks at an Indianapolis station: a high concentration of water in more than one pump of premium unleaded gasoline at a Marathon station, said the report. Last week, two more Indianapolis stations were cited for fuel containing a high concentration of water, a Village Pantry station that dispenses Marathon fuel, and another Marathon station, the report said.
Also last week, a Marathon about 30 miles southwest of Indianapolis, off I-70 at Ind. 243 in Putnam County, was found to have water in the fuel, the report added.
Skip Powers, chief of the underground storage tank section of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, told the paper that the Village Pantry station suffered an equipment malfunction.
"Village Pantry prides itself on providing quality fuel to our customers, and we follow detailed procedures every day to monitor our equipment to ensure this quality," Mike Emmons, the convenience store's vice president of operations, told the paper. "We are now in the process of cleaning all of our tanks and lines."
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