MANATEE COUNTY – A toxic waste discharge that’s been affecting the waters of Tampa Bay near Port Manatee for years.
Nearly 480 million gallons of toxic wastewater could end up in Tampa Bay. This comes after a phosphate stack leak from Piney Point has environmental activist worried of the long-lasting effects here on the Suncoast.
“There’s really no good solution to this problem. There’s no best-case scenario here,” said Glenn Compton. “It’s trying to avoid the worst-case scenario”.
A problem that’s been plaguing Piney Point near Port Manatee since the 1960s. The decommissioned phosphogypsum stack has more than 400 million gallons of highly contaminated water sitting at the top.
And last week managers of the stack detected a leak. In an attempt to avoid a major failure, The Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued an emergency order for managers of the site to release up to 480 million gallons of wastewater from Piney Point by pumping down the wastewater to find the leak.
A solution Director of Manasota 88 Glenn Compton says has the potential of harming the environment around them.
“It’s gonna have elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus and potentially heavy metals such as cadmium which is extremely toxic to the environment,” said Compton.
Which could also add fuel to the fire when it comes to algae blooms in Tampa Bay. A problem environmental activist had foreseen happening.
“This is not a new concern this has been going on for a very long time,” said Rusty Chinnis. “What I basically say it’s a prime example of a cost of an action.”
Chinnis, a board member with the Suncoast Waterkeepers, says he finds it depressing knowing so much waste water is being drained into the bay.
But the burden of the cleanup could fall to the environmental protection agency or FDEP and the cleanup could cost taxpayers millions.
