PALMA SOLA BAY – The month-long pause in horseback riding in Palma Sola Bay and along its northern shoreline ended on Oct. 6 and the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program (SBEP) has released the results of its water quality testing.
Prior to and during the horses’ absence from the bay, SBEP sampled the water five times and received results from four of those tests by Oct. 8.
The role of the horses in the high bacterial numbers in the bay will require further evaluation, according to SBEP Executive Director Dr. David Tomasko.
“For all four times, the levels of enterococci – the state’s default “fecal indicator” bacteria – exceeded the bathing beach standard at the site where the horse ride operations occur,” Tomasko wrote in an Oct. 8 email to The Sun.
He said the results of the tests show there are sources of “fecal indicator” bacteria other than the horses.
“For the first two sampling events, the horse ride vendors were out there, and although we had detections of DNA sequences of bacteria that were from horses, the numbers were too low to be quantified. That is called a DNQ event “Detected, Not Quantifiable,” Tomasko wrote. “For the next two sampling events, the horse ride vendors were off the causeway, and we didn’t even have detections of the DNA sequences of bacteria from horses.”
Tomasko stated SBEP still has three more sampling events to work through, all with the horses now back on the causeway.
“When we have all the data together, the SBEP will have a better understanding of how to interpret the results from this study,” Tomasko wrote. “But what seems fairly clear – and which has been clear for a while now – is that there are sources of “fecal indicator” bacteria other than horses out there. We have hits for birds, but not humans.”
Tomasko said some of the “fecal bacteria” indicators may not be from fecal sources at all.
“We know that each of the three fecal indicator species used by the State of Florida can arise from decomposing vegetation, but we don’t know what role – if any – that potential source could have on what we’re finding in Palma Sola Bay,” he wrote.
Suncoast Waterkeeper has been monitoring water quality in the bay and posted the following on its website: “Our monitoring results reveal persistent exceedances of the state’s water quality standards for enterococci bacteria:
2022: 22 samples collected, 6 exceeded the FDEP threshold of 130/100 mL (no more than four should exceed);
2023: 46 samples collected, 23 exceeded (no more than eight should exceed);
2024: 43 samples collected, 20 exceeded (no more than eight should exceed); and
2025 to date: 32 samples collected, 16 exceeded (no more than six should exceed).”
Further testing showed the following results:
April 2024: Horse DNA was detected and quantified in both water and sediment; no human DNA was detected;
July 2024: Horse DNA was again quantified in water samples; human DNA was detected, but at levels below quantification; and
April 2025: Avian DNA was detected at low levels; neither horse nor human DNA was detected in the sample.
“These findings demonstrate that horses are a measurable source of bacterial pollution in Palma Sola Bay north of the causeway; however, they are not the sole contributor,” Suncoast Waterkeeper Executive Director Abbey Tyrna wrote on the organization’s website. “The scientific literature emphasizes that microbial contamination in coastal waters frequently originates from multiple sources, including wildlife, domestic animals, and human infrastructure, and that distinguishing between these inputs and their relative contributions is inherently challenging.”
Tyrna does not support removing horses from the bay, but recommends the following:
“Install Public Signage – Post clear warning signs alerting residents and visitors that enterococci levels exceed state water quality standards, so that people can make informed decisions about their health and recreation;
Establish a Horse Vendor Permit System – Create a permit program that caps the total number of horse vendors and requires best management practices (BMPs) designed to protect water quality and seagrass meadows. Such BMPs should include ensuring horses remain in shallow water for the majority of the ride, only wading in past their hindquarters for a short duration at the beginning, and requiring the use of waterproof horse diapers. The permit should also stipulate the area where the horses can ride to protect the seagrasses.”
PALMETTO – Approximately 4.5 million gallons of stormwater contained in a storage pond at the Piney Point property will soon be discharged into Tampa Bay at Port Manatee (SeaPort Manatee).
The water to be discharged contains elevated levels of salinity (salt) but does not contain the same high levels of nitrogen and phosphate as the Piney Point water discharged into the bay in 2021, according to Piney Point’s receiver.
The Piney Point property is the site of a former phosphate processing plant that closed several years ago. In April 2021, a breach in the outer wall of one of the Piney Point retention ponds, also known as gyp stacks, resulted in approximately 215 million gallons of water containing high levels of nitrogen and phosphate being discharged into the nearby bay. At the time the Piney Point property was controlled by HRK Holdings LLC.
In August 2021, Manatee County Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas issued an emergency order appointing Tampa-based business attorney Herb Donica to act as the receiver of the Piney Point site. Under that order, Donica is responsible for maintaining, managing and closing Piney Point “as efficiently and expeditiously as possible.” The order grants Donica judicial immunity from liability, including personal injury and property damage.
Attorney Herb Donica is the court-appointed receiver for the Piney Point property. – Donica Law Firm | Submitted
When contacted at his Donica Law Firm office Wednesday morning, Donica explained the pending discharge.
“We have four stack systems. The old gyp stack south had been dewatered and was dry. We have gone out for bid with construction companies to do a final closure on it, which is going to be about $10-12 million for construction, materials and a new liner. They want to get started the second week of August,” Donica said. “That stack has to be dry for them to get their machinery in there and start doing the grading. We’re going to change the contour of the stack so it drains completely and will not hold rainwater.”
“The rain that came in June and July has accumulated in that south stack. Our estimate is about four and a half million gallons. By rule, and also by the permit we have, once water goes into a stack, even though it’s rainwater, we have to treat it differently than the water lens on the other side of the stack wall that goes out into our stormwater outfalls on the west side of the property. That water’s been segregated and kept away from the other stacks and materials on the property,” he said.
When asked about the quality of the water to be discharged into the bay, Donica said, “It has higher salinity because it came in contact with the dredge material in the stack that previously came from the bottom of the bay.”
The dredge materials Donica referenced were removed from the Port Manatee waters and transferred to the Piney Point site several years ago as part of a port expansion project.
“The salinity level in the old gyp stack south was measured and it’s right around 19,000 microsiemens. The bay is more like 40,000 microsiemens, which is about twice as much,” Donica said.
“We already take water samples two or three times a day and this water will be sampled even more often. We run our own tests and we also provide samples to FDEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) and the county so they can independently test it. This water will constantly be monitored and tested as it goes out,” he added. “We’re looking for two things: the quality of water and whether there are any nutrients in it. If the water gets contaminated, we’ll shut it down. You don’t want the pumps picking up suspended solids and the mud off the bottom of the pond. Our agreement is to discharge water, not dredge materials, suspended solids or mud. We’re working closely with DEP and the Port Authority and we’re in constant contact with them. DEP is in charge of that permit. They need to know what’s going on. If anything should change, they need to know. If we need to halt what we’re doing or go a different direction we will.”
The Piney Point reservoir water discharged in 2021 traveled through this canal at Port Manatee and into Tampa Bay. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
“We expect to start discharging as early as this week,” Donica said. “My site manager is talking to the Port Authority and everyone wants to be present when it starts so everybody gets a chance to test as it’s happening. I don’t know how long it will take. We’ll have two 6-inch pipes up there that will draw from it and into the 36-inch decant loading pipe. It’s a routine thing. It’s been done before, but this summer it’s a little more sensitive because people are more sensitive to what’s going on.”
Regarding his role as the court-appointed receiver of the Piney Point property, Donica said, “I control the property that’s been taken from HRK Holdings and handed over to me. They are gone. I don’t own the property, but I’m in complete possession and I’m entitled to do anything I need to do to achieve the goal of final closure.”
Donica noted he’s not in charge of the deep well injection project Manatee County has embarked upon to discharge the contaminated water in the other gyp stacks to more than 3,000 feet below the earth’s surface.
Additional insight
Dave Tomasko is the executive director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program and he’s among the environmentalists and concerned citizens who continue to monitor the Piney Point activities and potential impacts.
Tomasko was contacted July 20 and asked about the pending Piney Point discharge.
“It’s rainwater, but it’s rainwater that’s contacted saltwater. It’s not fresh water, but it’s not full-strength saltwater. It’s brackish water with about one-third to one-half the salt content of the Gulf of Mexico. 19,000 microsiemens is about 10 to 15 parts per thousand. The Gulf of Mexico is probably around 45,000 microsiemens. My understanding is this rainwater came in contact with salt materials and the dredge spoil and it can’t be treated as regular stormwater. The salinity is too high to put it into a creek and would be too high for freshwater organisms,” Tomasko said.
He added that he’s been in contact with Piney Point site manager Jeff Barath and trusts the information Barath’s provided him.
“I’ve been told this is something they’ve done for a decade without any problems. I haven’t seen a lab report, but he told me the nitrogen levels in this water were not a concern. I’ve been told this is not the liquid fertilizer that was discharged last time,” Tomasko said. “What was discharged last time was more than 200 million gallons at a concentration of nitrogen 10 times higher than the worst wastewater treatment plant in our watershed.”
The salinity-infused Piney Point stormwater will be discharged into Tampa Bay at Port Manatee. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
“It’s disappointing that they’re having to discharge again. It reiterates the fact that our backs were against the wall when it came to a solution and the deep well was our only option,” County Commission Chairman Kevin Van Ostenbridge said regarding the pending water discharge.
PALMETTO – State leaders are committing financial resources for the ongoing Piney Point response efforts and the implementation of a long-term plan to permanently close the property.
The Piney Point property is owned by HRK Holdings. The company purchased the property in 2006. A phosphate production facility operated on that site from 1966 to 1999.
On Tuesday, April 13, Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson and Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Noah Valenstein participated in a press conference at the Piney Point property. State Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Manatee), State Rep. Will Robinson (R-Manatee), acting Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes and all seven county commissioners attended the press conference but did not address the media.
Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the permanent closure of the Piney Point property. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Regarding the initial state response that included DEP, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida National Guard, DeSantis noted the controlled discharge of containment stack water into Tampa Bay was stopped within seven days.
The governor then addressed his plans moving forward.
“We want this to be the last chapter of the Piney Point story. Today, I’m directing the Department of Environmental Protection to create a plan to close Piney Point. I’ve requested that DEP’s team of engineers and scientists develop plans for the permanent closure of this site, including identifying necessary resources to do so. This will ensure the state is moving forward with a plausible scientific plan toward closure,” DeSantis said.
“I’m redirecting $15.4 million from existing appropriations at DEP to use innovative technologies to pre-treat water at the site for nutrients so that in the event that further controlled discharges are needed, any potential adverse environmental impacts such as algae blooms and fish kills are mitigated,” DeSantis said.
“I’m further directing DEP to fully investigate the incidents here at Piney Point to take any and all legal actions to ensure we hold HRK and the other actors fully accountable,” the governor said.
Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson addressed the state Legislature’s Piney Point funding efforts. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Speaking next, Simpson addressed the state Legislature’s efforts.
“This year we’re going to appropriate $100 million for the initial funding. By the end of the year, we hope to get a full closure plan with a fully-funded amount that may be required; and then come back next year and have a fully-funded plan,” he said.
DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein also spoke about holding HRK Holdings responsible for the environmental and economic impacts caused by the breach of the Piney Point containment stack.
“We have a team of attorneys back at Tallahassee that is making sure they take advantage of all the information we’re collecting and then put together a case to hold HRK fully accountable. We are putting every effort to hold folks accountable, regardless or not of a particular corporation’s circumstances,” he said.
After Tuesday’s press conference, Port Manatee Director of Communications Virginia Zimmermann provided The Sun with a tour of the Berth 12 area where the Piney Point water was discharged into Tampa Bay through an inland canal that helped move the discharged water into the deep water shipping channel. Zimmermann said the port remained fully operational while the Piney Point crisis played out.
According to DEP, about 215 million gallons of water containing elevated levels of nitrates and phosphates were discharged into Tampa Bay. Phosphates and nitrates are primary ingredients in fertilizer and concerns linger regarding the potential environmental impact of discharging that much nutrient-rich water into Tampa Bay.
The Piney Point discharge entered the shipping channel and Tampa Bay at Port Manatee’s Berth 12. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
The controlled discharge began on March 31 after a breach was identified in one of the three Piney Point phosphogypsum containment stacks. DEP refers to the breached gyp stack that resembles a small lake as the “NGS-South compartment.”
Another leak
According to DEP’s daily update on Saturday, April 17, approximately 205 million gallons remained in the NGS-South compartment and DEP was preparing to manage increased stormwater on the Piney Point property ahead of weather forecasts predicting rain and windy conditions early this week.
According to Friday’s update, members of the University of South Florida’s School of Geosciences began using bathymetric equipment that day to survey the gyp stack and further assess repairs previously made to its submerged liner.
Friday’s update noted that on Tuesday, April 13, a low-level flow was observed from the concentrated seepage area on the east wall of the gyp stack: “Dive crews immediately arrived on scene and identified a small detachment underneath the plate placed over the liner seam separation. At this time, the low-level flow rate appears to be consistent and repair efforts continue.”
Environmental concerns
On Saturday, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program Executive Director Dave Tomasko provided his latest insights on the potential environmental impacts.
“We haven’t had discharges in about a week, but it looks like we’ve got a 10-15 square mile algae bloom centered around Piney Point. It’s pretty much in the same location it was for the past week,” he said.
This satellite imagery from Thursday, April 15 indicates what’s believed to be an algae bloom. – NOAA | Submitted
Tomasko noted the suspected algae bloom appears on the daily satellite imagery provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He said an algae bloom does not necessarily appear as a large mass of material that can be seen on the water’s surface.
“It’s floating microscopic plants,” he said.
Sharing his own personal observations, Tomasko said, “The water does not look the way it normally does this time of year. The water this time of year is usually blue. It looks kind of brownish to me. In that area around Piney Point, people have been noting the water does not look clear. It looks brownish-green. It looks like there’s elevated phytoplankton and this week we’re going to find out if there’s a more macro-algae out there.”
Tomasko said members of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and other volunteers will be out on the water in several locations conducting surveys of the algae, and also of the seagrass the grows on the bottom of the surveyed bodies of water.
“We’ve got baseline conditions before any of the impact was felt and this coming week we’re going to go see if they’ve changed,” he said. “No one really knows what’s going to happen, but it’s hard to believe there wouldn’t be some sort of impact with all the nutrients put into the water.”
Tomasko’s overall concerns also include the presence of red tide (Karenia brevis) in the area.
“We’ve got red tide in Sarasota. These are low to moderate levels. Red tide is not caused by humans but when it comes into water enriched by human activity that’s a real concern. If this plume lingers around and the red tide encounters it, it’s like adding gasoline to a fire,” Tomasko said.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission red tide current status map, medium levels of Karenia brevis cells (red tide) were measured at Siesta Beach in Sarasota on April 12. That same day, low levels of Karenia brevis cells were detected at the New Pass Dock in Sarasota Bay and at Lido Pass.
An April 12 water sample taken near the Rod and Reel Pier in Anna Maria indicated Karenia brevis cellswere not present or were present only at minimal background levels.
The north end of Anna Maria Island is approximately 15 miles from Port Manatee.
Previous seagrass losses
Tomasko also lamented the previous loss of seagrass that occurred in Sarasota Bay prior to the Piney Point crisis.
“We just had our numbers released Friday about the seagrass change. We’re down 18%. We lost more than 2,000 acres of seagrass in the northern part of Sarasota Bay between 2018 and 2020 in the area around Long Bar Pointe. North and south of Long Bar Pointe we’re down 18%, after a 5% loss between 2016 and 2018,” he said.
Tomasko was asked why so much seagrass has been lost near Long Bar Pointe.
“We think it’s because of two red tides in 2016 and 2017. Then you had Hurricane Irma in 2017 and a real strong red tide from 2018 going into 2019. The red tide shuts off the photosynthesis. The seagrass expires because the water is warm and there’s not enough light,” he said.
“The last thing we need is another red tide like we had in 2018-2019. We’re already in a stressed position and now we’ve got red tide to the south and Piney Point to the north. The last thing we need is for people to think the crisis is past. We’re nowhere near close to knowing what the effects are going to be,” he added.
Holmes Beach declaration
On Tuesday, April 13, the Holmes Beach City Commission adopted by city resolution a declaration of a local state of emergency that serves as the city’s preemptive response to the potential environmental and economic impacts of the Piney Point discharge.
“The city commission has determined that the release of contaminated water from the Piney Point facility poses an immediate and real threat to the residents and businesses of the city of Holmes Beach. The city commission supports the allocation of federal and state funds to develop and implement a plan that will eliminate any future threat that the Piney Point facility poses to Tampa Bay and surrounding waters,” the resolution states.
The Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach city commissions declared similar declarations of emergency on April 8.
PALMETTO – The wastewater discharge into Tampa Bay from a breached Piney Point retention pond near Port Manatee stopped Friday, April 9, but concerns are growing regarding the potential environmental impacts to Tampa Bay and other area waterways.
“We’re already seeing signs of an algae bloom in that area, captured through satellite imagery,” Sarasota Bay Estuary Program (SBEP) Executive Director Dave Tomasko told Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth in an email last week. “There does appear to be an algae bloom about 10 square miles in size and it’s centered around Piney Point. We just don’t know where it’ll go, how big it will get and how long it will last.”
On Thursday, April 8, the Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach city commissions declared preemptive local states of emergency in anticipation of potential environmental impacts of the Piney Point discharge, which occurred less than 20 miles from Anna Maria Island. The city of Holmes Beach is expected to enact a similar declaration this week.
Last week, city, state and federal officials continued their response to the breached Piney Point phosphogypsum stack, which contains a retention pond that until recently held approximately 480 million gallons of water containing high levels of phosphorus and nitrate.
Formerly the site of a phosphate plant that first opened in 1966, Piney Point was purchased by HRK Holdings in 2006. In addition to the retention pond, the property also contains two additional compartments that contain 400 million gallons of more heavily polluted water.
The long-term plan is to treat the remaining water and build a nearby deep water injection well that in a few years will be used to inject the treated water deep into the Earth.
According to the Sunday, April 11 FDEP update on Piney Point, “Yesterday, 217 million gallons remained in the NGS-South compartment (the breached containment pond). The site received 0.6 inches of rain, thus increasing the volume in the compartment to 221 million gallons.”
According to the Saturday, April 10 update, “DEP deployed diving companies and submersible cameras that identified a seam separation on the east wall of the NGS-South. Dive operations have strategically placed a steel plate on the seam separation to temporarily repair this identified source of concentrated seepage. To date, 215 million gallons were discharged to the port.”
During a Tuesday, April 6 press conference, acting County Administrator Scott Hopes said,
“This is very much under control now. The risk has been lessened to the point that people will be able to return to their homes.”
Environmental concerns
The SBEP, Suncoast Waterkeeper and Tampa Bay Waterkeeper are among the organizations monitoring the potential environmental impacts.
“We are in the early stages of this, but it has the potential to be the worst environmental impact to our local waters in my career, which dates back to the 1980s,” SBEP’s Tomasko wrote Titsworth. “Early model runs suggest that over the next few days to weeks, the waters being discharged will make their way down along the southern shoreline of Tampa Bay and it is expected to enter into Terra Ceia Bay, the Manatee River, northern Anna Maria Sound and even Palma Sola Bay,” he wrote.
“Preliminary data from the discharges has given us nitrogen concentrations that are about 100 times as concentrated as urban stormwater runoff and about 10 times as concentrated as raw sewage. Just in the first few days, the load of nitrogen to the bay was equivalent to about 40,000 bags of fertilizer,” Tomasko wrote.
When contacted Saturday, Tomasko said the fertilizer equivalency was now closer to 70,000 bags of fertilizer.
Tomasko said he’s more concerned about other forms of algae blooms than he is about a potential red tide outbreak at this time. He said the algae blooms he’s most concerned about impact water clarity and water quality and could potentially lead to more manatee deaths and the potential loss of fishing habitats.
On April 7, the Suncoast and Tampa Bay Waterkeeper organizations issued a joint statement that in part said, “The current discharge of water is far exceeding water quality standards for the Tampa Bay Estuary and delivering excess nitrogen and phosphorus to bay waters. Both nutrients are known to fuel harmful algae blooms such as red tides. This disaster was preventable. Permit conditions were ignored, water accumulation was not addressed when state funds were available to remedy the conditions.”
FDEP updates and water quality sampling data can be found online.
State committee meeting
On Wednesday, April 7, FDEP Secretary Noah Valenstein appeared before the Florida House of Representatives’ Pandemics and Public Emergencies Committee to discuss Piney Point. He participated via web conferencing from the Emergency Operations Center in Bradenton and Hopes traveled to Tallahassee in person.
Regarding FDEP’s initial response, Valenstein said, “The department immediately set up intense monitoring for nearby freshwater bodies as well as Tampa Bay. That allowed us to have a very detailed baseline of water quality in the area to ensure that we can hold HRK fully accountable for any impact to our resources.”
In regard to holding HRK responsible, Valenstein said, “We are actively looking at our litigation options.”
When asked what lessons can be learned from the Piney Point crisis, Valenstein said, “Piney Point has a history as a legacy site of the state recognizing that it needs to come in, and that it’s the party with the funds to clean the site up. There’s always been sort of a partial clean-up, but not closure by the state. The first lesson is when you have the opportunity you need to close the site. This legislature, this department and this administration has the opportunity to make the decision to close the site fully and be done with it, as opposed to a partial closure and possible reinvention of the site with continued risk.”
Hopes shared a less optimistic view and said, “It’s unlikely a company like this has not structured themselves in a way that with Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 (bankruptcy) it’s going to be very difficult,” he said. “In the meantime, we have to be the parties that solve this problem permanently.”
