Oil spill water contamination is the part of a spill that follows you home. The oil on the beach makes the news, but the chemicals it carries can reach a river that feeds a city's water plant, a creek beside a private well, and the fish and shellfish people catch for dinner.
Most of the harm a spill does lands on wildlife and the coast, as our guide to how oil spills harm animals, people and water explains. This article stays on two questions every family near a spill asks first: is the water safe to drink, and is the seafood safe to eat?
The short answer is that neither is safe until the authorities say so, and the water you stored beforehand is what carries you until then.
Oil Spills That Reached American Water
Spills do not only happen at sea. Some of the worst damage to American water came from pipelines on land. These four show the range of what a spill can do to the water and food around it.
Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico (2010)
The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers. The well beneath it leaked for 87 days and released about 134 million gallons of oil. At its peak, federal managers closed more than a third of the Gulf's federal waters to fishing. Oyster beds, shrimp grounds and coastal marshes in several states were oiled.
Kalamazoo River, Michigan (2010)
A ruptured pipeline near Marshall, Michigan sent about 843,000 gallons of heavy crude into a creek that feeds the Kalamazoo River. Much of the oil sank to the river bottom instead of floating, which made it far harder to clean. Stretches of the river stayed closed to the public for about two years.
Huntington Beach, California (2021)
A damaged offshore pipeline leaked about 25,000 gallons of crude off Southern California. Beaches closed, and fishing and shellfish harvesting were banned along a stretch of coast until testing showed the catch was safe.
Keystone Pipeline, Kansas (2022)
The Keystone pipeline ruptured in Washington County, Kansas, and released about 588,000 gallons of crude into Mill Creek. It was one of the largest onshore oil spills in the United States in years. It is a reminder that a pipeline running through farm country puts creeks, ponds and wells at risk, far from any coast.
How Oil Contaminates Drinking Water
Crude oil and fuel carry chemicals that dissolve into water and stay there after the visible oil is gone. The danger to your family depends on where your water comes from.
What Gets Into the Water
The chemicals of most concern are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene, often tested together as BTEX, along with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Benzene is a known cause of cancer. Short-term exposure can bring headaches, nausea, dizziness and skin and eye irritation. You can drink these chemicals, absorb them through your skin, and breathe them in when contaminated water is heated or sprayed in a shower.
City Water
If your water comes from a city or utility, a treatment plant stands between the spill and your tap. When oil heads toward a water intake, utilities usually close the intake and draw from storage or another source until the water tests clean. That protection depends on the warning reaching them in time. Watch for a do-not-drink or do-not-use notice from your water provider, and follow it to the letter.
Private Wells
A private well has no one watching it but you. A pipeline rupture or a spill into a nearby creek can reach groundwater, sometimes slowly and sometimes weeks later. No agency will test your well unless you ask. If you live near a pipeline or a spill site, treat your well as suspect until a lab says otherwise.
Signs Your Water Is Contaminated
- Smell. A fuel, gasoline or tar smell from the tap.
- Sheen. A rainbow film on the water in a glass or a sink.
- Taste. An oily or chemical taste.
Any one of these means stop drinking it. Their absence does not mean the water is safe, because dissolved chemicals can be present at harmful levels with no smell or sheen at all.
Is Seafood Safe After an Oil Spill?
Fish and shellfish take in oil chemicals from the water and from what they eat. For a family that fishes, crabs or gathers shellfish, the catch is the most direct way a spill reaches the table.
How Fishing Closures Work
After a spill, state and federal agencies close the affected waters to fishing and harvesting. They reopen an area only after its seafood passes two tests: trained inspectors smell and taste samples for oil, and laboratories measure the PAHs in them. Seafood sold in stores and restaurants must come from open waters, so commercial seafood is generally safe. The risk sits with the catch people take themselves.
Fish Versus Shellfish
Finfish break down oil chemicals in their bodies fairly quickly, and waters often reopen to fishing first. Oysters, clams and mussels cannot break them down well. They filter large amounts of water and hold contamination much longer, so shellfish beds tend to stay closed the longest.
Catching Your Own
- Check closures first. Your state's wildlife or fisheries agency posts the closed areas. Do not fish, crab or gather shellfish inside them.
- Trust your nose. Do not eat anything that smells or tastes of oil or fuel, even from open water.
- Skip the shellfish longest. When in doubt, leave oysters, clams and mussels for last.
How to Keep Your Family's Water Safe
When a spill reaches your water, the safe supply is the one you already have. Everything else is waiting for test results.
Stored Water First
Stored drinking water is your answer to a contaminated supply. Plan on one gallon per person per day for drinking and cooking. Start with three days for your household, then build toward a week or more if you live near a coast, a pipeline or a drilling site. Rotate it so it stays fresh.
Why Boiling and Filters Do Not Fix It
Boiling kills germs, but it does not remove oil chemicals. It can make things worse, because heating water releases benzene into the air you breathe. Purification tablets and UV purifiers also target germs, not fuel. Most portable filters are not built for dissolved hydrocarbons either. An activated carbon filter certified for volatile organic chemicals can reduce some of them, but no household filter makes oil-contaminated water safe to rely on. Use stored or bottled water until the authorities lift the warning.
Testing a Private Well
If a spill happens near you, have your well tested by a state-certified laboratory. Ask for BTEX and total petroleum hydrocarbons. Test again later, because contamination can arrive weeks after the spill. Your county or state health department can point you to a certified lab.
Knowing When It Is Safe Again
Do not decide for yourself that the water or the catch is safe. Wait for your water provider to lift its notice, for your well results to come back clean, and for your state to reopen the fishing grounds. Until then, cook, drink and brush your teeth with stored water.
