Florida lawmakers plan $200M to clean up, close Piney Point reservoir
By Curt Anderson
Midday update: Manatee commissioner discuss Piney Point latest
County commissioners met Tuesday morning, discussing that while it was a private facility’s responsibility to maintain Piney Point, the government is now taking charge.
But it was not immediately clear how officials plan to tackle the huge engineering challenge.
The state Senate president, Republican Wilton Simpson, said a legislative committee on Wednesday will take up an amendment to use federal money for the project. Its sponsor is Sen. Jim Boyd, a Republican from Bradenton where the Piney Point reservoir is located.
Evacuation over as officials say risk of Piney Point catastrophe has lowered msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Bill Galluccio
Apr 6, 2021
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said that they found no evidence of a second breach at the 77-acre Piney Point reservoir in Manatee County, which has been leaking contaminated wastewater.
Last week, officials become concerned that the reservoir could burst, sending contaminated floodwater into surrounding neighborhoods. They ordered 300 people to evacuate from their homes and closed a nearby highway as a precaution.
The Piney Point reservoir was storing wastewater from an old phosphate plant. According to
Engineers have been working around the clock to contain the breach and pump the wastewater out of the reservoir. They have brought in dozens of pumps and ten vacuum trucks allowing them to remove 35 million gallons of water every day. The water is being pumped into the Tampa Bay estuary where officials are constantly testing water samples and working to ensure that algae blooms do not develop.
SARASOTA, Fla. – Crews on Tuesday were continuing to pump wastewater from a retention pond into Tampa Bay to prevent a catastrophic breach that could send a massive wall of water into the surrounding area.
Last week, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection approved the pumping of industrial wastewater from a retention pond at Piney Point, a former phosphate plant, in response to the facility’s second leak in a decade. The wastewater is about as acidic as black coffee and contains elevated levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, which can feed the algae that causes red tide.
After pumping more than 30 million gallons of wastewater each day 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.
Leaking Wastewater Reservoir Does Not Have A Second Breach | PowerTalk 1460 AM & 101 1 FM iheart.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iheart.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.