Categories: U.S. News

Florida Sinkhole Contaminates Water

A sinkhole has opened up at a Florida fertilizer plant, causing about 980 million litres of radioactive water to leak into one of the state’s main underground sources of drinking water, state officials say.

The huge sinkhole opened up under a phosphate fertilizer plant near Tampa, damaging the stack where waste water was stored.

The water contained phosphogypsum, a slightly radioactive by-product from the production of fertilizer.

The phosphate company Mosaic said the leak posed no risk to the public.

The company added the contaminated water had not reached private supplies and it was recovering it using pumps.

Mosaic official David Jellerson was quoted as saying by the AP: “Groundwater moves very slowly.”

However, Jacki Lopez, Florida director of the Center for Biological Diversity, told Reuters: “It’s hard to trust them when they say <<Don’t worry,>> when they’ve been keeping it secret for three weeks.”

Dee Ann Miller, a spokeswoman for Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection, said Mosaic was updating state and federal agencies on the situation.

She said her agency was doing frequent site visits to safeguard public health.

“While monitoring to date indicates that the process water is being successfully contained, groundwater monitoring will continue to ensure there are no offsite or long-term effects,” Dee Ann said in an email to Associated Press.

The sinkhole – about 45ft in diameter – at Mosaic’s New Wales facility in the town of Mulberry was discovered by a company worker on August 27.

The sinkhole later caused the waste pond to drain, and the contaminated water has now seeped into the aquifer.

Aquifers are massive underground systems of porous rocks that hold water.

Nancy Clayson

Nancy is a young, full of life lady who joined the team shortly after the BelleNews site started to run. She is focused on bringing up to light all the latest news from the technology industry. In her opinion the hi-tech expresses the humanity intellectual level. Nancy is an active person; she enjoys sports and delights herself in doing gardening in her spare time, as well as reading, always searching for new topics for her articles.

Recent Posts

Quincy Jones Dead at 91

Quincy Jones, the celebrated musician and producer who worked with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Ray…

7 hours ago

White House 2024: Voter Fraud Claims Flood Social Media

Misleading allegations, rumours and outright lies about voting and fraud are flooding online spaces in…

2 days ago

Spain: At Least 158 Killed In The Country’s Worst Flooding Disaster

At least 158 people have died in Spain's worst flooding disaster in generations. On October…

4 days ago

Russia Fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, Surpassing Global GDP

Google has been fined two undecillion (a two followed by 36 zeroes) roubles by a…

4 days ago

Financing Your Home Remodel: 7 Tips for Success

Embarking on a home remodel is an exciting journey, promising enhanced comfort, increased property value,…

2 weeks ago

Donald Trump Serves Up McDonald’s Fries While Kamala Harris Celebrates 60th Birthday with Church Choir

The US presidential candidates continued to campaign across key swing states on October 20. Footage…

2 weeks ago