- ‘Very concerning’: Officials report large increase in concentration of COVID-19 detected in wastewater WESH 2 Orlando
- Florida won’t be getting doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine anytime soon WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
- Orange County wastewater samples hint at continued surge in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations Orlando Sentinel
- Orange County COVID-19 positivity rate starting to level out at 20%, mayor says WFTV Orlando
- Wastewater trends show coronavirus cases will continue to climb in parts of Orange County WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
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Tag Archives: wastewater
Toxic wastewater reservoir in Florida on brink of collapse, state of emergency declared
Florida’s Manatee County is in a state of emergency as a toxic wastewater reservoir is on the brink of collapse.
Hundreds of families were ordered to evacuate Saturday after officials warned that Piney Point Reservoir, about 40 miles south of Tampa, could flood homes with 15 to 20 feet of water if it collapses.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Sunday press conference that crews are working to prevent “a real catastrophic flood situation.”
The reservoir holds a mix of salt water, fresh water and fertilizer runoff. DeSantis clarified on Sunday that the water is not radioactive, after there was concern it might be.
A portion of the reservoir’s retaining wall shifted laterally, which means total structural collapse is possible, Manatee County public safety officials said. If that were to happen, potentially 600 million gallons of water could leave the retention pool in a matter of minutes, they said.
A natural gas plant that provides energy to millions in the region is also in the flood zone, causing additional concern.
Crews are now working to move water out of the reservoir as fast as possible, but it could take more than a week.
The governor said officials are preparing for a full breach, but hope it doesn’t happen.
Florida declares state of emergency as reservoir with millions of gallons of “contaminated, radioactive wastewater” leaks
Some residents in Manatee County, Florida, were evacuated from their homes over Easter weekend as officials cited fears that a wastewater pond could collapse “at any time.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the area on Saturday.
County officials said the pond, located at the former Piney Point phosphate processing plant, has a “significant leak,” according to CBS affiliate WTSP-TV. The Manatee County Public Safety Department told people near the plant to evacuate due to an “imminent uncontrolled release of wastewater.”
“A portion of the containment wall at the leak site shifted laterally,” said Manatee Director of Public Safety Jake Saur, “signifying that structural collapse could occur at any time.”
Manatee County Public Safety Department initially sent out emergency evacuation notices on Friday for those who were within half a mile of Piney Point, and by 11 a.m. Saturday, evacuation orders were extended to people within one mile north of the reservoir’s stacks of phosphogypsum — a fertilizer waste product — and those within half a mile to the south of the site. Surrounding stretches of highway were also closed to traffic.
Mandatory evacuations were extended an additional half mile west and one mile southwest of the site on Saturday evening. Manatee County Public Safety Department said that 316 households are within the full evacuation area.
Phosphogypsum is the “radioactive waste” left over from processing phosophate ore into a state that can be used for fertilizer, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
“In addition to high concentrations of radioactive materials, phosphogypsum and processed wastewater can also contain carcinogens and heavy toxic metals,” the Center said in a statement on Saturday. “For every ton of phosphoric acid produced, the fertilizer industry creates 5 tons of radioactive phosphogypsum waste, which is stored in mountainous stacks hundreds of acres wide and hundreds of feet tall.”
Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said in a statement Saturday that the “public must heed that notice to avoid harm.”
Officials are on site conducting a controlled release of water, roughly 22,000 gallons a minute.
The water that is currently being pumped out by officials in order to avoid a full collapse is a mix of sea water from a local dredge project, storm water and rain runoff. The water has not been treated.
“The water meets water quality standards for marine waters with the exception of pH, total phosphorus, total nitrogen and total ammonia nitrogen,” the state said in a statement. “It is slightly acidic, but not at a level that is expected to be a concern, nor is it expected to be toxic.”
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried wrote a letter to DeSantis on Saturday urging an emergency session of the Florida cabinet to discuss the situation. She wrote that the leaking water is “contaminated, radioactive wastewater,” and noted that this leak is not the property’s first.
“For more than fifty 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 purchase by the current owner, HRK Holdings, and exacerbated since.”
Video of a Manatee County Commissioners meeting provided insight into what happened prior to the leak. On Thursday afternoon, Jeff Barath, a representative for HRK Holdings, the company that owns the site, appeared emotionally distressed while briefing the Manatee County Commissioners about the situation.
“I’m very sorry,” he said. He told commissioners he had only slept a few hours that week because he was trying to fix the situation, and through tears, said he first noticed “increased conductivities within the site’s seepage collection system” 10 days prior on March 22. This system, he said, offers drainage around the gypsum stacks.
He said he immediately notified FDEP of his concerns.
“The water was changing around the seepage. We went into a very aggressive monitoring program,” he said, to find out where the seepage was coming from.
They discovered the south side of the stack system had “increased in conductivity” and that the acidity of the water, which is normally around a 4.6, had dropped to about a 3.5, which indicated an issue.
After a few days, the water chemistry had not improved and water flows were increasing from about 120 gallons a minute to more than 400 gallons per minute in less than 48 hours, Barath said. Last Saturday night, the flow rates increased to “rates that I could not even estimate to you,” he said.
Water was filling the stacks so quickly that the ground was starting to rise, Barath said. This “bulging” was temporarily stabilized but then extended hundreds of feet.
Barath submitted a report to the state on March 26, according to the state-run “Protecting Florida Together,” website, which was created by DeSantis to allow more transparency about state water issues.
“I was anticipating that the gypstack itself was destabilizing at a very rapid rate and recommended that we consider an emergency discharge,” he told commissioners. He said he feared that “overpressurizing” the system would result in “complete failure.”
“I’ve spent most of my days and nights constantly monitoring all aspects of this gypstack system and identifying failure points within it,” he said, noting that failure points were happening “constantly, I mean hourly.”
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said that it ordered the company to “take immediate action” to prevent further leaks. On March 30, the department said that “pipes at the facility are repaired” and controlled discharges were initiated to prevent any pressure buildup.
However, based on Barath’s testimony at the meeting, the situation was far from over. He concluded his address by saying they were doing “everything possible to prevent a true catastrophe.”
On Friday, another leak was detected in the south containment area of the facility. Despite overnight work to attempt to stop this and other leaks, Manatee Director of Public Safety Jake Saur said on Saturday that the situation was “escalating.”
Covid variant detected in Burlington wastewater
Health Commissioner Mark Levine said in a statement Thursday that the finding represents “a new stage of the pandemic here in Vermont.”
The variant, first detected in the United Kingdom, has had health officials on high alert. It is considered more contagious than the virus that has spread during the past year, and experts have warned that this and other mutations could cause cases to surge while the Covid vaccine rollout is still in early stages.
Burlington has been monitoring wastewater for viral activity since last August. The process has been used to glean early warnings of increased Covid levels in the community. In January, the city announced it would begin testing wastewater for the B.1.1.7 strain.
The Health Department does not consider the city’s detection of the B.1.1.7 virus definitive — the presence of the variant can only be confirmed by performing genomic sampling of individuals who have tested positive for Covid-19.
Levine said Thursday that the finding is not a surprise. For weeks, the health commissioner has said it was only a matter of time before a variant was detected in Vermont, and that it was likely already circulating in the state.
A case was detected in Saratoga Springs, New York, in early January. The Health Department said 34 states have recorded cases.
The likely presence of the variant should be a reminder for Vermonters to adhere closely to public health guidelines, Levine said. “It is extremely important for everyone to take every step to help prevent getting and spreading the virus, even as our vaccination efforts continue – wear your mask, keep a distance of 6 feet from each other, and absolutely avoid crowded places,” he said.
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