I have heard of stations putting water into their tanks. The purpose was to raise the level of the fuel up to the pickup pipe, and not have an unsellable reserve. Not a good idea, and I believe that it is illegal.
                                                Neal
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Date:    Tue, 10 Dec 2002 09:28:51 -0600
From:    Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: Water deliberately added to gasoline?

He said that Arco "put" more water in their tanks than Texaco did.
> At least, that's what he had heard. I asked him twice- yes, he said,
> the stations add water to their gas. I asked the reason and he said
> the stations were "allowed" to add water to the gas, but he had
> heard that some Arco stations added  more .
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I've never heard of a station owner / manager adding water to his
underground tanks.
The scenario I've spoken of in the past is called 'regional blending' and
it involves boosting fuel for regional use such as mountain regions or
extremely cold regions. This blending is done by the petroleum
manufacturer at the refinery. It is done on a seasonal basis and varies
throughout the year.
Car fuel tanks have a special sock type filter in the tank, usually on
the end of the fuel pickup. It is designed to NOT pass water. This
feature might diminish with age and condition of the filter. (not sure).
If you suspect water in your fuel you just need to run a cup into a
transparent glass container and take a look. The water will be sparkling
little bubbles.
As a pilot we use a fuel tester to test for moisture in aircraft fuel
............... you'd be surprised how much water I've found in tanks.
I've refused to rent aircraft until the fuel was drained and fresh fuel
installed on several occasions.

Stan Wilder

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