Sarasota Herald-Tribune
As wastewater from the old Piney Point fertilizer plant property in Manatee County continued to be pumped out Wednesday at a rate of 38 million gallons a day and dumped into Tampa Bay, state officials announced two companies have been hired to treat the water before discharging.
“The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) tasked two innovative technology companies to initiate nutrient reduction and removal treatments from water on-site prior to discharging to Port Manatee,” DEP said in a press release that provided no other details on the treatment effort.
Funding for the Piney Point cleanup effort also advanced in the Florida Legislature on Wednesday, work was expected to proceed on patching a leak in a wastewater containment pond liner, DEP announced elevated levels of phosphorus were detected around the discharge site and environmentalists criticized past state oversight efforts.
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What is the situation at Piney Point on Wednesday?
More than 100 people and pets that were being sheltered in hotels can return home, businesses can reopen and most roads in the area, including a section of U.S. 41 that had been closed, are now open.
“This is very much under control now, said Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes.
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Drone Base/Reuters
A leak in a contaminated reservoir has caused evacuations in Manatee County, Florida.
A second possible leak was spotted in the reservoir on Monday morning, but officials later said it was not a leak.
Officials said engineers were installing 20 emergency pumps to mitigate the danger.
Engineers determined that an anomaly spotted by an infrared drone in a contaminated Florida reservoir was not a possible second leak, state officials announced Monday. There have been news reports of a second area of seepage from the east wall of the NGS-South compartment at Piney Point, according to the announcement from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. These reports are unsubstantiated.
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