I was doing my research and came across the fact that, "Ethanol is increasingly used as an oxygenate additive for standard gasoline, as a replacement for methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), the latter chemical being responsible for considerable groundwater and soil contamination"
You gave the answer in your question:
MTBE is methyl t-butyl ether (tBut-O-tBut) and is responsible for considerable groundwater and soil contamination
MTBE has a water solubility of 4.3% at 25 C (Smallwood, Handbook of Organic Solvent Properties). This is sufficiently soluble to have a detectable odor, as MTBE has a low odor threshold. The potential health risks for acute and chronic exposures are not well defined, but MTBE has an unpleasant odor and I certainly wouldn't want to drink or bathe in water contaminated with it. Also, because of its relatively high water solubility it tends to diffuse rapidly through ground and surface water from the site of contamination, and many remediation methods are not as effective in removing it from the environment in comparison with other gasoline additives.
Great @Grey, now what are the pollution implications of MTBE in the environment? How does it affect humans?
Contamination of drinking water sources can occur from leaking underground and above ground fuel storage tanks, pipelines, refueling spills, automobile accidents damaging the fuel tank, consumer disposal of "old" gasoline", emissions from older marine engines, and to a lesser degree, storm water runoff, and precipitation mixed with MTBE in the air
See also
http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/index.htm
http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/water.htm#concerns
Thanks @ Geletii what about the consequences of the MTBE contamination
I gave you the references:
http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/index.htm
http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/water.htm#concerns
Jeremiah, I think the other folks answered the question well, but I was just curious--are oxygenates (MTBE or ethanol) mandated at some percent of gasoline in Kenya? FYI, in the United States, ethanol initially replaced MTBE as an oxygenate (overtaking it in ~2002), several years after MTBE was found to contaminate lots of groundwater. Later and through today, ethanol is primarily used to meet our Renewable Fuel Standard targets ... though some argue that ethanol would be used to some extent as an additive due to its high octane).
You are right @ Strogen, in the Kenyan environment, ethanol is more widely used as a fuel additive than MTBE. NEMA, the Kenyan environment protection agency follows the International trends like the ones at USEPA
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