Rain adds millions of gallons at Piney Point— but leak remains plugged, state says
An influx of rainy weather has added millions of gallons of water to the leaky pond at the Piney Point industrial site in Manatee County that last week threatened the surrounding area with potential flooding and contamination.
However, the leak in the east wall of the pond remains plugged with a steel plate, according to Florida Department of Environmental Protection. And water levels are still far lower than the roughly 480 million gallons that were in the reservoir before the leak began.
As of Sunday afternoon, FDEP estimated that the rain had so far increased water levels in the south pond from 217 million to 221 million gallons. Rainfall has since continued in the area, so the pond will likely see the addition of several million more gallons by Monday.
FDEP said in a Sunday update that the site will continue to be monitored throughout the stormy weather.
“Teams were on-site all night and continue to coordinate with state meteorologists throughout the weather event,” the update said.
A controlled discharge of millions of gallons of contaminated water into Port Manatee, which connects to Tampa Bay, was halted as of Friday, according to FDEP, and the leak in the pond was sealed as of Saturday.
The southern pond is the largest of three reservoirs of contaminated water on the Piney Point site. The ponds hold process water, a byproduct of phosphate mining, which is high in nutrients that can cause harmful algal blooms in open bodies of water. The southern pond also contains material from the dredging of Port Manatee as well as collected rainwater. The ponds at the site sit above a lined stack of gypsum, a radioactive byproduct of phosphate mining.
Last week, FDEP contracted two businesses to begin cleaning the contaminated water that remains at Piney Point.
The state is also partnering with Manatee and Hillsborough County governments and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program to monitor the effects of the polluted water that was discharged on the marine environment.
This story was originally published April 11, 2021 at 3:14 PM.