Jackson Falconer
BRADENTON – In Polk County, a sinkhole 45 feet in diameter has forced at least 215 million gallons of contaminated water to leak from a Mosaic facility into a major Florida aquifer.
The leak, which occurred at Mosaic's New Wales production facility in the town of Mulberry, was first noticed on Aug. 27. The sinkhole has caused damage to the stack that contained the phosphogypsum-contaminated water. Phosphogypsum is a slightly radioactive by-product of fertilizer production.
Senior Mosaic official David Jellerson told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the slow-moving contaminated water was being recovered from the aquifer, and would not travel to the closest residents, who are several miles away.
Mosaic advised it immediately reported the leak to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the EPA and Polk County government upon discovery.
"We are working closely with regulators and have been reporting to FDEP daily. We have also called in top experts in the field to advise us on this issue. Enhanced water quality monitoring continues, and we are developing a comprehensive corrective action plan to address and rectify the cause of the water loss," the company said in a statement.
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