Your aquifer is now threatened by a new risk, orchestrated by bad decisions by different groups, among them Manatee County and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Of course we must add the phosphate companies, but their role generates a slightly lower stress level because their profit-based mission is straightforward unlike our regulatory agencies (Manatee BOCC and DEP) which have the power and mission to protect the citizens.
With power comes responsibility, a term not considered by the Manatee BOCC and the FDEP.
That these agencies should allow destructive activity which puts the citizens’ health in harm’s way for money is inexcusable.
Read the original article here in the Islander.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
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County begins wastewater transfer at Piney Point
Manatee County transferred about 1.9 million gallons of industrial wastewater into a deep injection well the first week of April.
The county has at least another 258 million gallons of wastewater to move from the phosphogypsum stacks at the defunct Piney Point phosphate plant to the well.
Construction of the well was completed in late March and the transfer of wastewater began April 4 — a milestone, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the state agency with regulatory oversight at Piney Point.
“This project is one critical element of the necessary water disposal that will enable the ultimate closure of the Piney Point facility once and for all, permanently eliminating the threat from this site to the environment and the community,” DEP said in an April 8 update on the project.
DEP’s monitoring includes tracking storage capacity for wastewater and rainwater accumulation, as well as overseeing construction activity to eventually close the site.
The DEP began such monitoring about two years ago, when it permitted the release of 215 million gallons of nutrient-heavy wastewater from Piney Point into Tampa Bay to avert a larger disaster — the collapse of the stack system at the defunct plant.
The stability of the stack system became a concern after on-site management at Piney Point observed “seepage” at a stack likely due to a tear in the lining system….
— Lisa Neff
County begins wastewater transfer at Piney Point
Manatee County transferred about 1.9 million gallons of industrial wastewater into a deep injection well the first week of April.
The county has at least another 258 million gallons of wastewater to move from the phosphogypsum stacks at the defunct Piney Point phosphate plant to the well.
Construction of the well was completed in late March and the transfer of wastewater began April 4 — a milestone, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the state agency with regulatory oversight at Piney Point.
“This project is one critical element of the necessary water disposal that will enable the ultimate closure of the Piney Point facility once and for all, permanently eliminating the threat from this site to the environment and the community,” DEP said in an April 8 update on the project.
DEP’s monitoring includes tracking storage capacity for wastewater and rainwater accumulation, as well as overseeing construction activity to eventually close the site.
The DEP began such monitoring about two years ago, when it permitted the release of 215 million gallons of nutrient-heavy wastewater from Piney Point into Tampa Bay to avert a larger disaster — the collapse of the stack system at the defunct plant.
The stability of the stack system became a concern after on-site management at Piney Point observed “seepage” at a stack likely due to a tear in the lining system.
Environmental groups in the region — including Suncoast Waterkeeper and ManaSota-88 Inc. — maintain that the release of wastewater from the former fertilizer plant fueled an unprecedented algae bloom in the bay.
— Lisa Neff
