Over the past few weeks, Tampa Bay, Florida has experienced a major water issue.
As governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for residents living around the Piney Point water plant, the eyes of many Floridians (especially me) began to follow this concern. I thought that it was very insightful and a great learning experience to see my research come to life and be put into practice. With some of the same water contaminants I examined in my experiment be relevant in this situation, it was interesting to see how valuable and practical the research I did, actually was.
Piney Point, the city’s phosphate containing water plant had sprung a leak.
From March 26 to April 9, approximately 237 million gallons of water either leaked or were intentionally discharged from the reservoir (Cohen).
This reservoir in total lays on over 600 acres of land and holds about 480 million gallons of water. Just a few months ago the site operators were notified that it had reached maximum capacity; they began to brainstorm how to reduce and pump out the water, but the question is... to where?
Piney Point has an overload of water contamination. It was home to a fertilizer manufacturing company before being abandoned, leaving it with an enormous quantity of phosphorus in the water.
As a result of phosphate mining, phosphogypsum stacks were left behind. Phosphogypsum is the product of processing phosphate (Evacuations expand). The stacks almost look like hills similar to landfills, except they must be monitored for radioactive material. Although the good news is that no endangering levels of radioactive materials are present, the water still has a concerning pH level, concentration of nitrogen, and ammonia nitrogen.
According to Tampa’s Estuary Program, there should only be about 0.74 milligrams of nitrogen per liter of water, but anything above 5-10 milligrams is troubling. Five days after the leak was discovered, the nitrogen levels were about 191.2 milligrams per liter, and in another sample spot, about 214.4 milligrams per liter. The same goes for the levels of phosphate. Orthophosphate, another form of phosphate, was found at about 2.1 milligrams per liter of water while the suggested amount is 0.10 milligrams per liter.
To try and slow the leak, or at least stop harmful contaminants from spilling, researchers are in the process of deploying “nutrient reduction” and “removal treatments of the water on-site” (Cohen). But unfortunately, Dr. Henry Briceño of FIU, a water quality researcher states that “The concentrations of the nutrients are way higher than the receiving water body,” as they do not fit in Tampa Bay’s regular water quality principles (Cohen). The nutrients, he says, are very important to plant life, but excessive amounts can destroy entire ecosystems.
Another very important effect of this contaminant spill is how the wildlife will react. No matter how much money is poured into efforts to fix the situation, living aquatic species such as the manatee are irreplaceable. Between January 1 and April 2 of this year, more than 600 manatees were found dead. Although limited access to food plays a key role in the population decrease, I believe that this water issue is a continuing threat to the survival of not only the manatee, but other sea creatures as well.
The response of sea life to water contaminants was not my main focus while researching, nonetheless, I believe spending time in the future to dive deeper into their responses is time well spent.
All in all, the Tampa Bay water contaminant spill at Piney Point had a big impact on Florida as a whole, the surrounding ecosystem, and individual researchers such as myself. As the fight to contain the water continues, we will closely watch this situation.
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