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Tag: gypsum stack

Work continues to locate, fix Piney Point leaks

Work continues to locate, fix Piney Point leaks

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News.

PALMETTO – Workers continue to search for leaks identified last month in a gypsum stack storing contaminated water at the former phosphate plant at Piney Point.

Contractors deployed a device last week designed to remove mud and silt, clearing the water so workers can find and repair the leaks more easily, according to a Florida Department of Environmental Protection report.

Piney Point’s court-appointed receiver also has authorized the use of a new system to maximize water evaporation from the wastewater storage pond in the leaking stack to lower water levels.

FDEP reported on Jan. 5 that three leaks in the stack were seeping less than three gallons of water per minute combined. Scuba divers and other workers identified the source of one leak using hydrophone surveys, sonar work and dye trace studies.

Leaking water is being pumped back into the storage pond on top of the gyp stack, according to the agency’s most recent report, which states, “There continues to be no indication of any concern with the integrity or stability of the stack system, and there are no offsite discharges occurring at this time.”

A leak in March 2021 resulted in FDEP approving the dumping of 215 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay to prevent flooding of homes and businesses in the event of the stack’s collapse. The contaminated water discharged in March and April spread throughout Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay, transporting nitrogen and phosphorus that worsened a bloom of the toxic algae red tide that lasted from April to November, causing fish kills and respiratory irritation. Since then, about 265 tons of nitrogen and 240 tons of phosphate have been removed from the wastewater ponds as a precaution.

The contaminated water at Piney Point eventually will be injected into a 3,300-foot-deep well now under construction at 3105 Buckeye Road. The FDEP issued a permit in December for Manatee County to build the well despite objections from five environmental groups concerned about the potential for contaminating underground drinking water in the Floridan aquifer.

More leaks appear at Piney Point

More leaks appear at Piney Point

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Environment, Featured, Outdoors.

PALMETTO – Three more leaks from an unknown source have emerged in one of the gypsum stacks holding contaminated water at the closed Piney Point phosphate plant.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) reports that the leaks, discovered on Jan. 5, are “low-volume,” seeping less than three gallons of water per minute combined.

A more serious leak in March 2021 resulted in FDEP approving the dumping of 215 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay to prevent flooding of homes and businesses in the event the stack might collapse. The contaminated water discharged in March and April spread throughout Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay, transporting nitrogen and phosphorus that spurred a bloom of the toxic algae red tide that lasted from April to November, causing fish kills and respiratory irritation.

Since then, about 265 tons of nitrogen and 240 tons of phosphate have been removed from the Piney Point wastewater ponds as a precaution.

“Currently, there is no indication of any concern with the integrity or stability of the stack system, and there will be no offsite discharges at this time,” according to the FDEP’s report. “Seepage volume remains low and is completely contained within the on-site lined stormwater management system.”

If the leak worsens, the leaked wastewater will be pumped back into the pond on top of the gyp stack, according to FDEP, whose engineers and regulatory staff are coordinating with contractors to determine the cause and source of the leak.

The current storage capacity for additional rainfall at the site is approximately 18.3 inches, FDEP reports. Expected rainfall through the end of May 2022 is approximately 15 inches.

The wastewater eventually will be injected into a deep well now under construction at 3105 Buckeye Road. The FDEP issued a permit in December for Manatee County to build the 3,300-foot-deep well, despite objections from five environmental groups concerned about the potential for contaminating underground drinking water in the Floridan aquifer.

Related coverage

 

Piney Point deep well permit approved

 

Piney Point deep well injection permit on fast track

 

Environmental groups sue over deep well injection plan

 

Piney Point ‘closure’ not the last word

 

Piney Point deep water injection well draft permit issued

 

Piney Point under new management

 

Rainfall could prompt second discharge at Piney Point

 

Florida DEP sues Piney Point owner

 

Conservation groups sue over Piney Point discharge

 

Piney Point-algae link explored

 

Piney Point spill leads to lawsuit

 

Piney Point pollution spreading, affecting dolphins

 

Piney Point wastewater spreading

Coast Lines: First, do no harm

Coast Lines: First, do no harm

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Coast Lines, Outdoors.

A recent visit to the Mulberry Phosphate Museum was fascinating, with its finds of prehistoric giant ground sloths, mammoths, sharks, manatees and crocodiles, and even a 3000-year-old dugout canoe, all unearthed by equipment used in phosphate mining.Coast Lines logo - border

Wall murals show how mining companies in Florida restore the land after the mines are exhausted, even to the point of hosting threatened Florida scrub jays and gopher tortoises.

Missing from the diorama is what happens when it all goes wrong.

Lining gypsum stacks with material that wasn’t supposed to deteriorate and filling them with wastewater from the Piney Point phosphate mine never sounded like the best idea, but it likely was the most cost-effective idea.

Now that there’s a breach, and the ongoing discharge of hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater into local waters to avert a worse breach, we’re faced with the prospect of an environmental disaster unseen since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill began in April 2010.

Why can’t the wastewater be pumped into containers at Port Manatee instead of into our precious, beautiful and interconnected waterways, where nitrogen and phosphorus from the wastewater is undoubtedly going to feed red tide, and where other toxins may kill fish even before the red tide gets them?

Containers could be stored indefinitely, or transported to a treatment plant, which, by the way, could have been mandated on site when the mine was permitted.

Surely there is emergency money for such a solution in the state’s budget, if not the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s budget.

If state leaders are not able to come up with a better solution to this crisis than dumping phosphate mining wastewater into the pristine waters that attract our visitors, why continue to spend money on advertising for tourists?

Especially this time of year – when it’s spring, and we’re just peeking out from the pandemic – it’s heartbreaking to realize that in the coming weeks, we may see vacations ruined by red tide, fish kills and respiratory symptoms, and maybe things even worse than red tide. We may see vacation rental cancellations and businesses floundering, just when they’re about to regain normalcy from the pandemic.

Thanks to a lack of responsibility, wisdom, foresight and possibly even concern among government officials, visitors and residents will likely be avoiding the beaches this summer – the one place where we almost felt comfortable during the year of the coronavirus.

To the families evacuated from their homes just before Easter Sunday, to the people who have spent decades volunteering to plant seagrasses and count scallops and create oyster beds in area waters, to those who make their livings on the water, to the marine life, and to all the people of Tampa Bay, mine owners and state officials owe more than mitigation and an apology.

They must choose a solution to this crisis that does no further harm.