Florida Declares State Of Emergency Over Toxic Wastewater Leak

Florida administrators explain that the 77-acre reservoir holds millions of gallons of water with nitrogen and phosphorus.

Ron Desantis, Florida State governor, declared a state of emergency on Saturday. The sudden declaration was due to a leak at a large pond. The pond was reportedly filled with toxic wastewater containing nitrogen and phosphorus. This toxic wastewater can cause a radioactive flood.

The city has responded adequately to the leak as over 300 homes close to the Piney point reservoir in the Manatee County area were requested to evacuate. As a part of measures to the leak, a motorway has been shut down temporarily.

The Associated Press reported that the inhabitants residing close to the reservoir receive a text alert requesting them to evacuate the environment due to an imminent collapse.

The 77-acre reservoir is filled with millions of gallons of water with phosphorus and nitrogen from a phosphate plant. The leak was from a pound situated in a stack of phosphogypsum, a radioactive waste byproduct from the production of fertilizer.

Various attempts were made to end the leak on Friday by blocking it with rocks and other materials, but all these efforts were fruitless.

There are speculations that the toxic wastewater could flood the vicinity, and the administrator ordered the evacuation of surrounding homes.

Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an article published online that this “situation could have been prevented by refusing to store dangerous, radioactive waste”.

“This environmental disaster is made worse by the fact it was entirely foreseeable and preventable,” Ms. Lopez explained.

“With 24 more phosphogypsum stacks storing more than 1 billion tons of this dangerous, radioactive waste in Florida, the EPA needs to step in right now,” she said.

“Federal officials need to clean up this mess the fertilizer industry has dumped on Florida communities and immediately halt further phosphogypsum production.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in Florida. He is anticipated to visit Manatee County on Sunday Morning to convene with the officials involved to examine the incident. During the course, the governor tweeted: “All residents impacted should heed local evacuation orders.”