April 5 (UPI) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that state officials are hoping to prevent a “catastrophic event” as they pump water out of a reservoir near a decommissioned phosphate plant amid concerns it may collapse.
Speaking at a press conference Sunday morning, DeSantis said officials are pumping out 33 million gallons of water a day from the wastewater reservoir near the former Piney Point phosphate plant adding that the water, which contains phosphorus and nitrogen from the plant, is “not radioactive” although officials said it is not water they “want to see leaving the site.”
“We’re hoping that we can just continue to get water out in an efficient way to prevent a catastrophic event,” the governor said.
DeSantis warned that the nutrient makeup of the water was of primary concern, as it contains metals, while Manatee County administrator Scott Hopes warned that a “20-foot wall of water” could form within minutes if the reservoir were to collapse.
The Florida National Guard also deployed two CH-47 helicopters to place two pumps at the site to help lower the water level.
About 3,450 million gallons of wastewater remain in the reservoir and could be unleashed at any time officials said Sunday, but Hopes said that the controlled release is working.
“The breach release is traveling in the direction that we anticipated and planned for so we believe that probably by Tuesday we’re going to be in a much better position and the risk level will have decreased significantly with the governor’s assets,” said Hope.
The Manatee County Public Safety Department said that 316 households were within the full evacuation area as of Saturday evening.
Manatee County Public Safety Director Jacob Saur said that the 480-million gallon wastewater reservoir had been leaking for days but by 10:30 a.m. engineers “deemed the situation to be escalating,” prompting DeSantis to declare a state of emergency.
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, noted that the leak is not the first at the property, in a letter to DeSantis on Saturday calling on him to convene an emergency session of the Florida Cabinet.
“For more than 50 years, this Central Florida mining operation has caused numerous human health and environmental disasters and incidents,” Fried wrote. “There have been numerous, well-documented failures — which continue today — of the property’s reservoir liner, including leaks, poor welds, holes cracks and weaknesses that existed prior to the purchase by the current owner HRK Holdings and exacerbated since.”
