Phosphate mining costs Manatee County future water supply

Phosphate mining costs us future water supply

On Jan. 7, Manatee County commissioners approved an amended operating permit for Mosaic's 11,908-acre Four Corners phosphate mine. This permit includes a section requiring Mosaic to augment Manatee County's public water supply by pumping 1.96 million gallons a day from the Floridan aquifer and piping it to the water treatment plant at Lake Manatee.

Mosaic is required to augment the county water supply "to offset the reduction in flow in the Manatee River resulting from the operation of the mine."

It's extremely disappointing that Manatee County would permit implementation of a mining plan that would diminish our public water supply. Water from the Floridan aquifer will be needed by future county residents as Manatee County continues to grow.

Ground water is generally cheaper to use than surface water as a public water supply, because it needs less treatment and it is much cheaper than water from a desalinization plant. Furthermore, we are in a water use caution area, because of salt water intrusion into the Floridan aquifer along the coast.

The reason for the salt water intrusion is over pumping of the Floridan aquifer. Instead of approving more pumping from the Floridan aquifer, the county should be finding ways to conserve the water in the aquifer to stop saltwater intrusion. Mosaic is using water from our present water supply while stealing water from our future water supply.

Finally, while Mosaic is offering to replace the water it is removing from our public water supply, it is decreasing the flow in the upper Manatee River and doing nothing to remedy that. This will harm the ecosystem in the upper Manatee River, and should not be legally permitted by the county.

Mary Hrenda, retired geologist, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Parrish

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Phosphate mining costs Manatee County future water supply ."