Florida evacuations order lifted as danger from leaky wastewater reservoir fades
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Florida evacuations order lifted as danger from leaky wastewater reservoir fades

World+Biz

Reuters
07 April, 2021, 09:15 am
Last modified: 07 April, 2021, 09:22 am

Related News

  • Diplomatic efforts seek to save Ukraine fighters in Mariupol, Zelenskiy says
  • Ukraine hopes to evacuate civilians holed up with fighters in Mariupol steel works
  • crocodile blocks runway at US Navy base, Florida
  • Mayor appeals for 'full evacuation' of Mariupol
  • Ukraine's deputy PM says Ukraine, Russia fail to agree on evacuation convoys

Florida evacuations order lifted as danger from leaky wastewater reservoir fades

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a local state of emergency on Saturday

Reuters
07 April, 2021, 09:15 am
Last modified: 07 April, 2021, 09:22 am
Workers install more piping for effluent to flow at Port Manatee, where a breach in a nearby wastewater reservoir on the site of a defunct phosphate plant forced an evacuation order for hundreds of homes and threatened to flood the area and Tampa Bay with polluted water, in Piney Point, Florida, U.S. April 6, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones
Workers install more piping for effluent to flow at Port Manatee, where a breach in a nearby wastewater reservoir on the site of a defunct phosphate plant forced an evacuation order for hundreds of homes and threatened to flood the area and Tampa Bay with polluted water, in Piney Point, Florida, U.S. April 6, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones

Evacuation orders were lifted on Tuesday for hundreds of residents near Tampa Bay in Florida as crews relieved pressure on the containment wall surrounding a leaky wastewater reservoir, reducing the threat of a toxic flash flood.

Residents and local businesses were permitted to return after data from the US Army Corps of Engineers showed a diminished risk of a catastrophic collapse at the site of the former Piney Point phosphate plant.

The Army Corps and local public safety crews have worked around the clock for days pumping hundreds of millions of gallons of water out of the reservoir to ease pressure on its weakened containment wall.

The crisis began last Thursday when officials discovered leaks in the structure, lined with tall stacks of phosphogypsum waste, an industrial byproduct from fertilizer manufacturing known to emit radon, a cancer-causing radioactive gas.

State environmental officials have said tests of water seeping from the reservoir showed it was not radioactive.

But local authorities nevertheless said they feared that an all-out, uncontrolled breach of the wall could unleash a 20-foot torrent of untreated wastewater into the surrounding area, and they ordered a mandatory evacuation of more than 300 nearby homes as a precaution over the weekend.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a local state of emergency on Saturday.

"We're now ending our fifth day since learning of a breach at the site, and I am in awe over the state, federal and local cooperation to ensure the safety of our residents," Manatee County Commission Chairman Vanessa Baugh said in a statement announcing the lifting of the evacuation.

While the pumping operation eased the threat to homes and businesses adjacent to the reservoir, the wastewater drainage was being routed into a nearby Gulf Coast seaport, posing environmental concerns there.

Ed Sherwood, executive director of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, said pumping the nutrient-dense discharge into Port Manatee at the mouth of Tampa Bay could spawn algal blooms toxic to marine life in the estuary.

Top News

Florida / wastewater / evacuation / State of Emergency

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Photo: Noor-A-Alam
    How fixed rate regime makes Bangladesh Bank’s monetary tools ineffective
  • A labourer carries a sack filled with sugar to load it onto a supply truck at a wholesale market in Kolkata, India, November 14, 2018. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri
    India restricts sugar exports at 10 million tonnes
  • British International Investment (BII) CEO Nick O’Donohoe. Illustration: TBS
    BII to invest $450m in Bangladesh in 5 years

MOST VIEWED

  • Representational Image/Reuters
    FBI counts 61 'active shooter' incidents last year, up 52% from 2020
  • Members of Austin Police Department block off part of Republic of Texas Boulevard following an explosion in Austin, Texas, US, March 19, 2018/ Reuters
    Grim chronology of mass shootings in the United States
  • A priest comforts people as they react outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School after a shooting, in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Marco Bello
    'How many more lives?': Reactions to Texas school shooting
  • Photo: Reuters
    Oil prices climb on prospects for tighter supply as demand rises
  • A passerby wearing a protective face mask walks past an electric screen displaying a graph showing Japan's Nikkei share average, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Tokyo, Japan February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato/Files
    Asian stocks shrug off Wall St weakness but growth concerns remain
  • FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol arrive for a state dinner at the National Museum of Korea, in Seoul, South Korea, May 21, 2022. Lee Jin-man/Pool via REUTERS
    S Korea uses Biden summit as springboard for global agenda as China looms

Related News

  • Diplomatic efforts seek to save Ukraine fighters in Mariupol, Zelenskiy says
  • Ukraine hopes to evacuate civilians holed up with fighters in Mariupol steel works
  • crocodile blocks runway at US Navy base, Florida
  • Mayor appeals for 'full evacuation' of Mariupol
  • Ukraine's deputy PM says Ukraine, Russia fail to agree on evacuation convoys

Features

Psycure has received various awards for their extraordinary contributions to promoting Sustainable Development Goals. Photo: Courtesy

Psycure: Meet the organisation serving the underserved university students (and beyond) with mental healthcare 

42m | Panorama
Underlying problems such as school dropouts need to be addressed first before taking a legal route to stop child labour. Photo: Reuters

‘Child labour in a country like Bangladesh is primarily a development issue, not so much of enforcement’

2h | Panorama
The balcony railings of the Boro Sardar Bari in Sonargaon. Made of cast iron, these railings feature vertical posts with intricate designs on top. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

The evolution of railing and grille designs

1d | Habitat
A Russian army service member fires a howitzer during drills at the Kuzminsky range in the southern Rostov region, Russia January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov/File Photo

3 months of Ukraine war : Miscalculations, resistance and redirected focus

1d | Analysis

More Videos from TBS

Mangoes from Satkhira going to Iraq

Mangoes from Satkhira going to Iraq

52m | Videos
The dream of building home on moon

The dream of building home on moon

1h | Videos
When is the right time to invest?

When is the right time to invest?

2h | Videos
Bangladesh Bank relaxes rules to deal with dollar crisis

Bangladesh Bank relaxes rules to deal with dollar crisis

14h | Videos

Most Read

1
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

2
A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Banking

Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

3
Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi
Bangladesh

Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi

4
BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies
Stocks

BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies

5
The reception is a volumetric box-shaped room that has two glass walls on both the front and back ends and the other two walls are adorned with interior plants, wood and aluminium screens. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Habitat

The United House: Living and working inside nature

6
Illustration: TBS
Banking

Let taka slide

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab