This problem should not exist. The long saga involves the failure of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and is an example of how Florida has sold itself out to industry at the expense of our environment. Phosphate mining should be banned from Florida for many reasons as it is one of the most destructive industries.
Previous DEP solutions to the contaminated gypstack water has been to dump it into the Gulf, which kills the animals living there. This solution of putting it into the ground poses the risk of contaminating our drinking water, since the DEP does not know what will happen in years to come.
Yet DEP continues to allow mining companies to accrue more poisoned water atop gypstacks.
Read the original article here at WUSF.
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
Florida Moves Closer to Issuing a Permit for Deep Well Injection of Piney Point Wastewater
The permit will allow up to 4 million gallons a day of wastewater from the Piney Point facility to be injected nearly 2,000 feet below the surface.
Florida officials intend to issue a permit that allows Manatee County to pump water from the Piney Point phosphate plant into a deep well.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection last week sent out a notice of intent to issue the permit.
The permit will allow the county to inject up to 4 million gallons a day of wastewater from the Piney Point facility into Florida’s aquifer nearly 2,000 feet below the surface.
Anyone opposed to the plan will have two weeks to file a petition for an administrative hearing.
Manatee County commissioners applied for the permit in April, after a leak in one of the reservoirs forced the release of more than 200 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay.
Officials have struggled to determine what to do with the water, which sits in several ponds atop stacks of phosphogypsum, a toxic byproduct produced during the processing of phosphate.
Environmental groups have concerns that injecting water into the ground could contaminate Florida’s aquifer.
