MANATEE

Piney Point: What you need to know on Tuesday, April 6 about evacuations, Florida wastewater leak

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

More than 300 hundred homes and multiple businesses in the area around Piney Point have been evacuated.
A state of emergency has been declared by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for Manatee, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
State and local officials are coordinating efforts.

Herald-Tribune journalists are covering the situation in Piney Point and possible impacts to the area, like we have for over 20 years. Local journalism like this is supported by our readers. If you're a subscriber we thank you. And if you'd like to subscribe, please see our current offers here.

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Last week, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection approved the pumping of wastewater into the Tampa Bay ecosystem from a retention pond at Piney Point – a former phosphate plant in Manatee County. A leak in the liner of the reservoir has caused a partial breach in one of the containment walls and officials hope that pumping more than 30 million gallons of wastewater out of the reservoir will relieve pressure on the walls and reduce the chance of an uncontrolled major breach.

More than 300 hundred homes and multiple businesses in the area around Piney Point have been evacuated. State and local officials are coordinating efforts and a state of emergency has been declared by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for Manatee, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

What is the situation at Piney Point on Tuesday?

The strategy of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies working on Piney Point is to reduce the amount water so that there is less pressure on the damaged reservoir retaining walls, in order to prevent a catastrophic breach that could send a massive wall of water into the surrounding area.

After pumping more than 30 million gallons of wastewater each day from Piney Point into Tampa Bay, the amount of water in the Piney Point retention pond has dropped to under 300 million gallons, down from approximately 480 million gallons last week at this time.

The addition of new federal and state resources should increase the rate at which water can be pumped out of Piney Point.

April 6 updates:U.S. 41 reopens; mandatory evacuation order remains in place

Is the wastewater radioactive?:Your questions about the leak answered

Wastewater being pumped from the Piney Point reservoir flows into this ditch and into Tampa Bay. United States Congressman Vern Buchanan toured Piney Point Monday, Apr. 5, 2021, getting a look at the breach in the containment wall, the pumping outflow and Port Manatee where the wastewater is being pumped into Tampa Bay.

Is there a second breach in the Piney Point retention pond?

While the leaking wastewater containment pond wall at the old Piney Point fertilizer plant site continues to be a critical situation, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said Monday that concerns about a possible second breach in the wall have proven to be unfounded.

Manatee County officials said that a drone equipped with thermal imaging equipment identified a possible second breach in the wall at 2 a.m. Monday. An investigation later determined that the area identified was not another wall failure, according to the DEP.

"Our technical team and our engineers came in and evaluated and determined there was no second breach," said DEP Spokeswoman Shannon Herbon.

DEP official says no second breach in Piney Point retention pond wall

The shoreline along Tampa Bay, just north of Port Manatee and Piney Point. Millions of gallons of wastewater are being pumped into Tampa Bay at Port Manatee in an effort to avoid a catastrophic failure of a containment wall at Piney Point.

What are the environmental impacts of pumping Piney Point wastewater into Tampa Bay?

Environmental groups say they worry that recent releases from a Piney Point wastewater treatment facility will eventually fuel an algae bloom that could impact coastal Southwest Florida.

Nutrient-rich waters from the treatment facility will offset natural balances in the coastal estuaries and will eventually end up in the Gulf of Mexico, where red tide initiates.

The region was partially crippled during a 17-month red tide bloom that started in the fall of 2017 and lasted until the spring of 2019.

Piney Point waters may fuel harmful algae bloom along Southwest Florida coast

Gov. DeSantis updated the Piney Point situation (April 4, 2021) during a Sunday morning press conference held at Manatee County's Public Safety Department in Bradenton.

What will happen to Piney Point once this crisis is over?

State lawmakers are pushing a bill to fund a complete cleanup and closure of the phosphogypsum stacks at Piney Point with American Rescue Plan funds, an effort that could cost upwards of $200 million.

On Monday evening, Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-Trilby) announced that the Senate will consider a budget amendment on Wednesday when it considers Senate Bill 2500, known as the General Appropriations Act.

Florida Senate seeks to use federal COVID relief money to clean up Piney Point site

"It's leaked before and they didn't fix it -- please don't put another band-aid on this" -- local resident Bill Schafer. BILLY COX| HERALD-TRIBUNE

What about evacuations for people living near Piney Point?

More than 300 households and numerous businesses have been evacuated and those evacuation orders are still active.

On Monday, Manatee County Public Safety reported that the county has had to help relocate more people among the more than 300 households that were covered by the mandatory evacuation around the Piney Point wastewater reservoir. 102 residents have now been provided shelter at local hotels with the assistance of Manatee County and the Red Cross.