Manatee County, Florida, expanded evacuations before a possible “catastrophic failure” in the water lake of an old phosphate processing plant that could result in devastating floods.
Governor Ron DeSantis spoke at a press conference in Piney Point on Sunday, emphasizing that the state is responding aggressively to the crisis.
“Public health and safety is the top priority,” said DeSantis.
The focus is on an abandoned reservoir at the Piney Point fertilizer plant, which contains hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater and started to leak amid a breach in a retaining wall.
DeSantis said workers are currently pumping 33 million gallons of wastewater a day, and he emphasized that the water discharged at Port Manatee is being tested and “is not radioactive”.
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If a catastrophic failure occurs, the reservoir could dump about 340 million gallons of wastewater into the surrounding area, which some experts estimated could result in a 6-meter-high water wave sweeping through an area with hundreds of houses.
This photo shows a reservoir near the old Piney Point phosphate mine, Saturday, April 3, 2021 in Bradenton, Florida. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Saturday after a significant spill in a large wastewater lake that threatened to flood roads and blew up a system that stores polluted water. The lake where the leak was discovered is in the old Piney Point phosphate mine, on top of a pile of phosphogypsum, a waste product from the fertilizer manufacture that is radioactive. (Tiffany Tompkins / The Bradenton Herald via AP)
((Tiffany Tompkins / The Bradenton Herald via AP))
DeSantis issued an evacuation order on Saturday for an 800-meter radius around the plant, which has so far led to the evacuation of 316 homes.
The state is working with the Red Cross to provide shelter and resources for displaced families, many of whom are staying at local hotels.
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DeSantis urged those seeking shelter to contact Manatee County authorities.
The authorities began controlled discharges on March 31 in hopes of preventing a subsequent breach and flood. DeSantis said the water was tested and monitored and that it currently meets the standards for dissolved oxygen, salinity and pH.
The state is also bringing additional equipment to double the effort to pour more water from the reservoir and into the surrounding watercourses.
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The Florida National Guard is launching aerial bombs that will fit into the plant’s batteries to speed up the pumping process, which currently uses 10 vacuum trucks, in addition to 20 current pumps.
DeSantis also said the state would hold HRK Holdings, which managed the site of the plant before it closed in 2001, responsible for any damages resulting from a breach.
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“Our management is dedicated to the total execution of damages to the resources of our state and to hold the HRK company responsible for this event,” said DeSantis. “This is not acceptable and it is not something that we will allow to persist.”
Updates are available on the Protecting Florida Together website.