Florida officials are urging residents in the surrounding areas of a wastewater storage pond to heed evacuation orders ahead of a potential overflow of polluted water.
On Friday, the Manatee County Public Safety Department warned of an “imminent threat” of an uncontrolled release of wastewater from the former Piney Point phosphate processing plant in Palmetto after a breach was detected in one of the walls of the southern reservoir, which holds about 800 million gallons of water containing phosphorus and nitrogen.
An estimated 300 million gallons of water remained in the pond as of Sunday, acting Manatee County Administrator Dr. Scott Hopes told reporters Sunday.
Residents within a 1-mile radius of the plant were ordered to evacuate, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Saturday in Manatee County as well as neighboring Hillsborough and Pinellas counties over the threat.
The pond where the leak was discovered contains stacks of phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct from manufacturing fertilizer, according to the Associated Press. It also contains small amounts of naturally occurring radium and uranium, and the stacks can release large concentrations of radon gas as well.
On Monday, a discovered a possible second breach. Fears of a complete breach at an old phosphate plant led authorities to evacuate more than 300 homes, close portions of a major highway and move several hundred jail inmates nearby to a second floor of the facility.
To stave off a catastrophic flood, more pumps were headed to the site to slowly drain the water and divert it to Tampa Bay, which could lead to negative environmental consequences such as fish kills and algae blooms.
Source-ABC
