ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Engineers and dam safety experts assessing the danger of a catastrophic flood from a leaking wastewater reservoir in Florida determined that the threat of a possible second breach was “unfounded,” said the Florida Department of Environmental Protection .
Officials said on Monday that a drone had discovered a possible second breach in the reservoir, whose eastern wall continues to show “concentrated infiltration”. But on Monday night, experts from four government agencies and outside engineers concluded that this second location was safe to continue working, the agency announced.
Meanwhile, the agency said dozens of pumps and 10 vacuum trucks were deployed to remove 35 million gallons (132 million liters) of wastewater per day in the Tampa Bay estuary, where 11 different sampling operations are monitoring the water quality and considering ways to minimize algae flowers that kill marine life and make going to the beach dangerous for humans in the state dependent on tourism.
“All the information on the quality of the water concludes that this water is NOT radioactive”, tweeted the agency.
US Representative Vern Buchanan, a Republican, toured the area by helicopter on Monday and said federal resources were committed to help in the effort to control the 77-acre (33-hectare) Piney Point reservoir in Manatee County, south of the Tampa Bay area.
Among them are the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, Buchanan told a news conference.
“I think we are making some progress,” said Buchanan. “This is something that has been going on for a long time. Now, I think everyone is focused on that. “
Fear of a complete breach at an old phosphate plant has prompted authorities to evacuate more than 300 homes, close parts of a major highway and move several hundred nearby inmates to a second floor of the facility.
The main concern is that the total rupture of the reservoir would cause major floods in nearby houses and businesses, officials said. The pumps are designed to slowly drain the water and divert it to Tampa Bay, which can lead to negative environmental consequences, such as the death of fish and the emergence of algae.
Melissa Fitzsimmons lives with her husband and 19-month-old daughter in Palmetto, Florida, near the evacuation zone. Fitzsimmons said that for the past four days she has been terrified since she found out about the leak. While his home sits on a hill and may not be directly affected by water if the spill continues to grow, Fitzsimmons said his family is preparing for the worst.
“Within 24 hours, the situation worsened for a catastrophic evacuation and we really didn’t know anything until we saw that there was an evacuation and, suddenly, an evacuation within the block of our home,” said Fitzsimmons. “We are not entirely in the evacuation zone, so we have not made the decision to leave, but we are certainly ready to go, I would say that within a 10-second warning, we can be outside the door.”
Scott Hopes, the Manatee County administrator, said the additional pumps are expected to increase the controlled release capacity of wastewater to up to 100 million gallons (379 million liters) per day.
“This has become a very focused local, state and national issue,” said Hopes.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says the pond water is mostly salty mixed with wastewater and rainwater. It has high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and is acidic, but it is not expected to be toxic, says the agency.
The tanks are in piles of plaster, a solid radioactive by-product of the manufacture of fertilizers. State officials say the water in the breached lagoon is not radioactive.
Still, the EPA says that too much nitrogen in wastewater causes algae to grow faster, leading to the death of fish. Some of these flowers can also harm humans who come into contact with polluted water or eat contaminated fish.
The Piney Point reservoir, and others like it, which store the by-product of phosphogypsum, have been left untreated for a long time, environmental groups say.
“This environmental disaster is compounded by the fact that it is totally predictable and preventable,” said Jaclyn Lopez, director of the Center for Biological Diversity in Florida. “With 24 more plaster piles storing more than 1 billion tons of this dangerous radioactive waste in Florida, the EPA needs to intervene now.”
Dale Rucker, a hydrologist and former editor of the Journal of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, says the spill is a reminder that governments need to pay attention to aging infrastructure that can endanger the environment and communities at serious risk.
“Continued neglect can have serious environmental consequences, as we are seeing,” said Rucker. “These environmental catastrophes are more likely to happen.”
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Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Lincon in Miami and Anila Yoganathan in Atlanta contributed to this story.