Piney Point Update – March 24, 2022
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has provided comments to the court-appointed receiver regarding the proposed closure plan for the Piney Point facility. DEP is requesting additional information from the receiver and its contractor on the water management plans during closure as well as on the performance of the expected post-closure stormwater management system to ensure the closed facility meets all applicable environmental protection and regulatory requirements.
DEP remains laser-focused on closure of this facility so that the potential threat to environment and surrounding community is eliminated permanently and looks forward to working with the receiver on finalizing this plan.
Key status updates and response activities (bolded and underlined language reflects changes):
- The site received 0.2 inches of rainfall overnight. Piney Point has received approximately 39.96 inches of rain since the beginning of June 2021. The current storage capacity for additional rainfall at the site is approximately 24.6 inches. This capacity is expected to change with rainfall amounts, as well as adjusted water management activities at the site. At this time, expected rainfall through the end of May 2022 is approximately 5.0 inches.
- As part of the site's water management efforts, piping of water to the North Regional Water Reclamation Facility resumed Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, and to date, 18,607,461 gallons have been transferred. Spray evaporation also continues in the NGS-North compartment and contractors are conducting pilot testing of the new evaporation system on top of the OGS-North compartment. Testing will continue through the next few weeks to establish baseline data.
- Approximately 257 million gallons are currently held within the NGS-South compartment. Pond level readings are expected to fluctuate due to a host of factors, including wind/associated waves in the pond, rainfall and water management activities.
- The court-appointed receiver and its contractors continue to coordinate with DEP on their response to and repair of the previously identified seepage along the south wall of the NGS-South reservoir. DEP staff are on-site and will continue to monitor site conditions to minimize environmental impacts and to protect human health and safety. The location of a source of the seepage has been identified, and the court-appointed receiver and his contractors are preparing for additional repair work to further stabilize the system. Contractors have deployed a 16x20x8 ft. box structure over the existing 8x8x6 ft. box structure, which will provide the foundation for continued repair activities. Future repair activities are expected to include placement of a metal plate and grouting. There continues to be no indication of any concern with the integrity or stability of the stack system, and there are no offsite discharges occurring at this time.
- Innovative technology has been used for onsite water treatment since April 2021, and is ongoing under the Receiver’s work at the site. As a result of these innovative water treatment practices, nutrients, including Total Phosphorus (TP) and Total Nitrogen (TN), continue to be reduced significantly onsite. To date, approximately 265 tons of TN and 240 tons of TP have been removed from wastewater onsite.
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The department finalized its agreement with the court-appointed receiver, supporting his role to both manage and undertake final closure of the site. This agreement was finalized after a judge issued an order on Aug. 25, 2021, appointing a receivership to serve as an independent third party to oversee management and closure of the Piney Point site. Day-to-day management and operations now come from this receiver. As part of the receiver's work, water treatment will continue and all available options to manage water onsite will continue to be pursued in an attempt to minimize the potential need for any future treated discharges.
Residents can find the latest information on the status of the site, response activities and water quality at ProtectingFloridaTogether.gov/PineyPointUpdate.
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