MIAMI, April 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Emergency crews in central Florida were working to prevent an environmental catastrophe at a leaking reservoir that risked sending millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater toward nearby homes and into the Tampa Bay.
More than 300 homes near the site of an abandoned phosphate mine and
fertilizer-production facility in Manatee County were under mandatory
evacuation orders, and Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of
emergency to free up funds to tackle the crisis.
“What we are looking at now is trying to prevent, and respond to if need
be, a real catastrophic flood situation,” DeSantis told a press conference
after viewing the site by helicopter Sunday.
He said emergency workers, assisted by the Florida National Guard, were
pumping about 33 million gallons of water daily out of a wastewater reservoir at the site, which has sprung a growing leak in its plastic lining.
“According to on-site engineers, a controlled release was necessary to
prevent a catastrophic failure,” the governor said.
The wastewater “meets water-quality standards for marine waters,” he said, with the exception of phosphorous and nitrogen levels.
Marine algae thrive on such elements, and environmental groups fear the
release of millions of gallons of nutrient-rich water into the ocean could
trigger a deadly “red tide,” or algal bloom, that can suffocate fish and
other aquatic life and deter tourist activity.
Manatee County’s acting administrator Scott Hopes said inmates and staff
at the local jail had been moved to the second floor of the two-story
building as a precaution.
Hopes sounded a slightly more optimistic note later Sunday, saying the
situation should be in a “much better position” by Tuesday.
But “we are not out of the critical area yet,” he warned.
A collapse of the reservoir also risked sending water into nearby stacks
of phosphogypsum, a leftover from fertilizer production.
Phosphogypsum is considered radioactive as it contains isotopes such as
radon, as well as toxic heavy metals like arsenic, lead and mercury.
The Center for Biological Diversity national conservation group called for
the US Environmental Protection Agency to step in.
“Federal officials need to clean up this mess the fertilizer industry has
dumped on Florida communities and immediately halt further phosphogypsumproduction,” Jaclyn Lopez, the organization’s Florida director, said in a statement.
Problems at the Piney Point reservoir stretch back decades.
Florida’s agriculture commissioner, Nicole Fried, wrote to DeSantis,
saying the current emergency was only the latest in a string of incidents.
“For more than 50 years, this central Florida mining operation has caused
numerous human health and environmental disasters and incidents,” she wrote, adding there had been several earlier failures of the reservoir’s lining.
Hopes said authorities were looking to permanently empty reservoirs at the
site.
“We won’t be repairing the liner, we will be depleting the holding ponds
of their water and then we will be moving forward to a permanent solution
into the future once we mitigate the current risk,” Hopes said.
This will “probably include filling these ponds after they have been
devoid of their contents and capping them.”
DeSantis said the company operating the site, HRK Holdings, should be held
accountable.
“This is not acceptable and it’s not something we will allow to persist,”
he said. — NNN-AGENCIES