两项全国性调查的结果表明，汽油 含氧甲基叔丁基醚（MTBE）就是其中之一 最常见的挥发性有机化合物 在美国社区供水系统使用的水源水中 美国检测到另外三种醚氧化合物 很少但几乎总是同时发生 和MTBE在一起。 美国各地水源水的随机抽样 各州在近9%的样本中发现了MTBE。在地理上 在MTBE使用率较高的地区，该化合物的检出率为23% 水源水样本的数量。 尽管在大多数情况下MTBE浓度较低（<1µg/L） 样本中，一些浓度等于或超过饮用水浓度 美国环境保护局设定的20微克/升的水资源建议 机构 频繁检测到即使是低浓度的 MTBE证明了美国水源水对环境的脆弱性 人为化合物，表明需要将MTBE纳入 跟踪污染趋势的监测项目。包括35个参考文献、表格和图表。

Results from two national surveys indicate that the gasoline oxygenate methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) is one of the most frequently detected volatile organic compounds in source waters used by community water systems in the United States. Three other ether oxygenates were detected infrequently but almost always co-occurred with MTBE. A random sampling of source waters across the United States found MTBE in almost 9% of samples. In geographic areas with high MTBE use, the compound was detected in 23% of source water samples. Although MTBE concentrations were low (<1 µg/L) in most samples, some concentrations equaled or exceeded the drinking water advisory of 20 µg/L set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The frequent detection of even low concentrations of MTBE demonstrates the vulnerability of US source waters to anthropogenic compounds, indicating a need to include MTBE in monitoring programs to track the trend of contamination. Includes 35 references, tables, figures.