MANATEE COUNTY, Fla — One phase down, three more to go.
Florida environmental officials completed Phase I of their plan to close the former Piney Point phosphate mining facility for good.
While the entire closure isn't expected to be completed until December 2024, the state says this is a major milestone in the state's journey to close its chapter on the wastewater emergency and its lasting effects.
Phase I included the closure of the OGS-South compartment area, one of the four wastewater ponds that sit on top of the massive gypsum stack.
The process involved removing hundreds of millions of gallons of rainwater, installing a new liner, and covering it with soil and grass. This means going forward, the site will only generate clean stormwater runoff.
“I am thankful for the progress we have seen at Piney Point to date – including the work to secure and protect the site during two hurricanes – and am encouraged as the court-appointed receiver has completed this first phase of closure work,” DEP Secretary Shawn Hamilton wrote in a new release.
The three upcoming phases include the closure of the three remaining wastewater ponds; Phase II is already in motion.
The polluted water from the four ponds is being moved into deep injection wells placed thousands of feet underground — far enough down not to impact drinking water or resurface for generations to come.
In March 2021, a tear in one of the former Piney Point facility's reservoirs caused concern over a potential collapse. In order to prevent a crisis, crews discharged more than 200 million gallons of untreated wastewater into Tampa Bay.
Florida residents can keep up with the status of the site and closure activities at FloridaDEP.gov.