Piney Point wastewater could be injected into ground

Manatee County is planning on injecting the industrial wastewater from Piney Point underground.

The county said doing so would help crews close the site for good but environmentalists are questioning whether it is safe.

All eyes were on Piney Point during the spring when the fertilizer plant was close to collapse. The solution then was to discharge wastewater into Tampa Bay.

“This is a very big day. This is the beginning of the final chapter at Piney Point,” said Manatee County administrator Scott Hopes. “Dewatering the stacks and permanently closing the stacks and making it the highest soccer fields and BMX bike park in Manatee County.”

The Department of Environmental Protection approved a permit to allow Manatee County to begin construction on an injection well to send water underground.

Rachael Curran, a board member for Tampa Way Waterkeeper, said the wastewater should undergo robust testing.

“We feel that, that we shouldn’t even be talking about whether or not we can be injecting waste,” Curran said.

The Tampa Bay Waterkeeper fears water laced with heavy metals could seep into our drinking water.

The county disagrees.

“The effluent here at Piney Point to do, that we’re going to dewater doesn’t even rise to the level of hazardous waste by the federal government,” Hopes said.

DEP said the underground injection will not impact the drinking water aquifer as it is well below it.

It also said Manatee County will be responsible for proper construction and monitoring of the well and water quality.

The waterkeeper doesn’t want this to turn into a road map for other plants to dispose of their wastewater through the ground.

“It’s almost ironic that this, one of the largest environmental disasters of 2021, in the nation is now being sort of seized as this opportunity to, in fact, be a benefit to the industry, and we don’t want to see that happen,”  Curran said.

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