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FLORIDA WORKS TO AVERT COLLAPSE OF POND WITH RADIOACTIVE WASTE
- By The Financial District
- Apr 5, 2021
- 2 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that crews are working to prevent the collapse of a large wastewater pond in the Tampa Bay area while evacuating the area to avoid a “catastrophic flood.”
Manatee County officials say the latest models show that a breach at the old phosphate plant reservoir has the potential to gush out 340 million gallons of water in a matter of minutes, risking a 20-foot-high (about 6.1-meter-high) wall of water.
Authorities have closed off portions of the US Highway 41 and ordered evacuations of 316 homes. Some families were placed in local hotels, Chris O’Meara and Adriana Gomez Licon reported for the Associated Press (AP).
County officials say well water remains unaffected and there is no threat to Lake Manatee, the area’s primary source of drinking water.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says the water in the pond is primarily saltwater mixed with wastewater and stormwater. It has elevated levels of phosphorous and nitrogen and is acidic, but not expected to be toxic, the agency says.
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. But the EPA says too much nitrogen in the wastewater causes algae to grow faster, leading to fish kills.
Some algal blooms can also harm humans who come into contact with polluted waters or eat tainted fish. Environmental groups urged the federal government this weekend to step in to halt sending more wastewater to the existing so-called gypsum stacks and halting the creation of more phosphogypsum, which is left behind when phosphate rock is mined to produce fertilizer.
“We hope the contamination is not as bad as we fear, but are preparing for significant damage to Tampa Bay and the communities that rely on this precious resource,” Justin Bloom, founder of the Sarasota-based nonprofit organization Suncoast Waterkeeper, said in a statement.
