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Ethanol plants recycle a significant amount of water inside their plant and also export water to local livestock operations in the form of wet distillers grain. A typical 55 million gallon per year plant’s water use is equivalent to growing 170 acres of alfalfa annually.
Ethanol is rapidly biodegraded in surface water, groundwater and soil, and is the safest component in gasoline today.
A study conducted for the Governors' Ethanol Coalition, "The Fate and Transport of Ethanol-Blended Gasoline in the Environment," concluded that ethanol poses no threat to surface water and ground water. According to the report, ethanol is a naturally occurring substance produced during the fermentation of organic matter and is expected to rapidly biodegrade in essentially all environments. When gasoline contaminates soil or water, ethanol is the first component to quickly, safely, and naturally biodegrade. A study commissioned by the MTBE industry suggested that in the event of a gasoline spill or leak, since ethanol breaks down first, benzene would persist in the environment longer. But this ignores the fact that ethanol-blended fuels contain less benzene, and the real threat posed to the environment is from the presence of benzene in gasoline, not ethanol.
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