Manatee County Applies for Industrial Wastewater Storage at County's Municipal "Buffalo Creek" Well

MANATEE COUNTY – Manatee County has submitted an application with FDEP to modify the existing permit for the county utilities’ Class I Injection well located at the North Regional Water Reclamation Facility (NRWRF). The modification request seeks a permit to include the storage of industrial wastewater from Allied New Technologies, Inc. (Allied).

The existing permit for the well located at 8500 69th Street East, (commonly referred to as the "Buffalo Creek well") received its final FDEP approval in 2020 for the limited use of disposal of reclaimed water from the Manatee County Master Reuse System. Though the Class 1 well was built to industrial standards, the finalized permit issued by FDEP only permitted the well for the use of storing the county’s treated municipal wastewater.

Click here to view the finalized permit as issued by FDEP in 2020 for the Buffalo Creek municipal well.

Allied produces bleach products at its Manatee County facility located near the former phosphate processing site known as Piney Point. The wastewater proposed for injection into the county’s municipal wastewater well is a concentrated brine byproduct, derived from Allied’s generation of bleach products.

In its application for modification of the well’s use to FDEP, Manatee County included a brief description of the original construction of the well.

However, the future project of a reverse-osmosis water treatment facility has yet to come to fruition, and the county is seeking FDEP approval to use the well, which was designed with the intent of storing a brine byproduct that would have been produced by the reverse-osmosis facility to store Allied’s brine waste produced from its generation of bleach products.

Reverse-osmosis facilities are generally utilized for filtration and production of drinking water.

The application to modify the NRWRF permit was submitted by the county on February 21, 2022. In its initial submission for modification to place industrial wastewater at the well, Manatee County sought to modify the permit to include two additional wastewater streams. One was to permit the storage of Allied’s brine wastewater, and the other was a request to store treated wastewater from Piney Point.

Additional details found in Section 2 of the application, line 9, described how the two wastewater sources would be supplied for disposal at the Buffalo Creek well:

Public records show that approximately one month after submitting its initial application for the major modification to the utility’s injection well, the county sent a formal request to remove consideration of Piney Point wastewater storage at the well. The email, dated March 31, 2022, asked FDEP to only review the application for "major modification for the Allied Chemical waste stream, but remove piney point waste stream from consideration."

To view the public record emails between Manatee County and FDEP, including the requested removal of Piney Point wastewater storage from the application, click here.

Currently, the county’s application shows as pending and under review on the FDEP applications portal, but should the modification request be approved, Allied would likely contract with the county to begin storage of its brine byproduct/wastewater from its bleach product production at the well.

Click here to view the application as submitted by Manatee County on February 21, 2022, to modify the approved use of the Buffalo Creek municipal well to include the storage of industrial wastewater.

In 2017, Allied applied to Manatee County for an economic development ad valorem tax exemption. An ordinance codified by the former board in January 2017 stated, "Allied New Technologies 2, Inc. has submitted an application in accordance with Article XV of Chapter 2-29 of the Code, and the Board has determined that granting an economic development ad valorem tax exemption to Allied New Technologies 2, Inc. is in the best interests of the public health, safety and welfare and will create employment opportunities that will benefit the entire community."

The ordinance included language that stated various factors which were reviewed by the board for their determination of approval of the economic development incentive, including the economic and environmental impacts of the company. One such consideration listed was, "The creation/expansion of its Manatee County facility, including the purchase of new equipment, by Allied New Technologies 2, Inc. will not result in any adverse environmental impacts."

A supportive document attached to the agenda item for approval of the ad valorem exemption in 2017 titled, "Allied’s Financial Strength and Wherewithal to Complete the Project," included statements of the company relating to its "water usage, brine disposal, water quality."

Click here to view the ordinance as passed by the BOCC in 2017 for approval of economic incentives to Allied, as well as the supportive documents which were attached to the agenda item for the board's review.

Based on the application the county submitted to FDEP, an Allied facility near Fort Pierce that uses the same process as the Allied Chemical plant in Manatee County currently disposes of its brine concentrate wastewater into a Class 1 injection well owned by the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority.

It is unclear whether the final approval for any potential future contracts between Allied and Manatee County for the company’s use of the well for its storage of industrial wastewater will come before the board in a public hearing. To date, no agenda items have appeared before the board related to the major modification application that was first submitted to FDEP on February 21, 2022, by the county.

TBT will continue to follow this story and will report additional details as they become available.

Dawn Kitterman is a staff reporter for The Bradenton Times. She covers local government and entertainment news. She can be reached at dawn.kitterman@thebradentontimes.com.