State races to prevent failure of waste pond
PALMETTO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that crews are working to prevent the collapse of a large wastewater pond in a Tampa Bay area that was evacuated to avoid a “catastrophic flood.”
Manatee County officials say the latest models show that a breach at an old phosphate plant reservoir has the potential to gush out 340 million gallons of water in a matter of minutes, risking a 20foothigh wall of water.
“What we are looking at now is trying to prevent and respond to, if need be, a real catastrophic flood situation,” DeSantis said after flying over the former Piney Point phosphate mine.
Authorities say 316 homes have been evacuated and some families were placed in local hotels. A local jail in the area is not being evacuated but they are moving people and staff to the second floor and putting sandbags on the ground level.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says the water in the pond is primarily salt water mixed with wastewater and storm water. It has elevated levels of phosphorous and nitrogen and is acidic, but not expected to be toxic, the agency says.
Manatee County officials have been discharging water since the pond — which is a part of a system of ponds — began leaking in March. On Friday, a significant leak that was detected escalated the response and prompted the first evacuations and a declaration of a state of emergency on Saturday. A portion of the containment wall in the reservoir shifted, meaning a collapse could occur at any time.
Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes said Sunday they will be doubling the amount of water being pumped out of the pond.
“Looking at the water that has been removed and the somewhat stability of the current breach, I think the team is much more comfortable today than we were yesterday,” he said. “We are not out of the critical area yet.”
Hopes said he could not rule out that a full breach could destabilize the walls of the other ponds at the Piney Point site.
The Florida DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein said another pond in the system has higher levels of metals. “The radiologicals are still below surface water discharge standards. So, again this is not water we want to see leaving the site,” he said.
The ponds sit in stacks of phosphogypsum, a solid radioactive byproduct from manufacturing fertilizer. State authorities say the water in the breached pond is not radioactive.
There are at least 70 gypsum stacks in the United States and about 27 in Florida, mostly in the region of westcentral Florida. The wastewater stored in the gypsum stacks can’t be seen from the ground as the piles surrounding the structure can reach as high as 500 feet.