Local experts link wastewater releases from the former Piney Point fertilizer plant in northern Manatee County to an ongoing red tide bloom that has devastated marine life. During a public forum on Friday, Tampa Bay Estuary Program Director Ed Sherwood and David Tomasko, who heads the Sarasota Bay program, both attributed the severity of the region's red tide to the 215 million gallons of wastewater dumped from Piney Point in April. The incident accounts for about 200 tons of nitrogen pumped into Tampa Bay in just 10 days. Sherwood said the ba typically gets that much nitrogen over the course of an entire year.