Environmental officials believe small tear at Mosaic Fertilizer plant poses no public risk

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced Wednesday evening that it does not believe there is a public health or safety threat after Mosaic Fertilizer announced that a small tear had been discovered in the liner of a retention pond at its Plant City manufacturing facility.

On Wednesday, Mosaic Fertilizer notified the FDEP that it had found a small tear in the liner of a retention water pond on top of the closed gypsum stack at its Plant City fertilizer manufacturing facility, according to the FDEP’s notification database. The 18-inch-long and 4-inch-wide tear is reportedly just below the pond’s water line.

Mosaic also observed a small submerged section of liner that was emitting bubbles at a liner seam.

“Our monitoring data shows that perimeter monitoring wells at the facility remain at background concentrations and meet drinking water standards,” the official notification stated.

Water in the pond is being lowered to enable a more thorough inspection and for repairs to be initiated.

“Today, prior to confirmation by Mosaic of this pollution event, FDEP sent investigators to inspect the gypsum stack and the recovery well system. The wells utilized at this site self-contains all water, and a preliminary investigation found this recovery well system to be operating properly,” an issued statement from the FDEP said.

Independent samplings of on-site monitoring wells were conducted, according to the FDEP, to ensure the process water is being self-contained.

“The processing of these samples will be expedited by FDEP’s nationally-accredited laboratory. At this time, based on the information provided by Mosaic and the preliminary reports from DEP inspectors, we do not believe that there is any threat to public health or safety,” The FDEP said. “FDEP will continue to perform daily inspections of this site as it is repaired.”

The FDEP’s regulatory staff and general counsel’s office will be reviewing the incident to determine if any enforcement action is warranted.

This story was originally published October 11, 2017 at 10:28 PM with the headline "Environmental officials believe small tear at Mosaic Fertilizer plant poses no public risk."