The digging of a deep well at the troubled Piney Point phosphate plant in Manatee County has been completed. Now, workers will soon inject millions of gallons of polluted water deep underground.
The well reaches down more than 3,000 feet, well blow the level of the drinking water aquifer. It will be used to dispose of pre-treated process water — the water held in the phosphogypsum stacks that contain byproducts of phosphate mining.
Manatee County officials say the disposal will begin next week. About 4 million gallons a day will be injected underground.
More than 250 million gallons are currently held in the stack, according to the latest estimates by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
In 2021, about 215 million gallons of nutrient-rich wastewater were released into Tampa Bay to relieve pressure on a leak. Some studies say the release worsened an outbreak of red tide in the bay that killed millions of fish and marine life.
Officials say about 50 million gallons have already been siphoned out of the stack and treated to remove pollutants.
Currently, there are six other deep-well injection sites in Manatee County — one operated privately, one run by the city of Bradenton, and four under the authority of Manatee County Utilities.
Emergency funding from the state of Florida is helping pay for the well, with millions of dollars earmarked for the clean-up and closure. The site is eventually going to be re-lined, capped, and finally topped with soil and sod. That is expected by spring of 2024.
