Piney Point Update – Aug. 12, 2022

Florida Department of Environmental Protection sent this bulletin at 08/12/2022 05:23 PM EDT
Piney Point

CONTACT: DEP Press Office, 850-245-2112, DEPNews@FloridaDEP.gov

Piney Point Update – Aug. 12, 2022

Today, the court-appointed receiver executed the contract with Forgen, LLC to begin closure of the first compartment at the former Piney Point facility, the OGS-South.

To prepare for the first step of this work, the court-appointed receiver must remove all rainwater from this pond that has accumulated over the last several months. Rainwater removal is scheduled to begin this weekend and will last approximately six days. This water will be conveyed to Port Manatee, which has been standard practice since 2011. This is not process water. It does not and will not come in contact with the ponded process water contained in the separate lined compartments and is managed separately at the site.

As part of the closure process, this pond will be modified so that it will no longer accumulate rainwater and eliminate the need for future rainwater releases to Port Manatee.

DEP and the court-appointed receiver have independently tested the water, and current water sampling results indicate the concentrations of total nitrogen range from 2.3 to 3.5 mg/L. At this level, the nutrient loading to the bay is expected to be less than 0.1% of the federally adopted annual Total Maximum Daily Load for Lower Tampa Bay. The court-appointed receiver will continue to monitor water quality to ensure the released rainwater is in full compliance with the water quality requirements.

To more fully assess and communicate water quality information to the public, in advance of the permitted rainwater release, DEP has also communicated with key stakeholders and initiated sampling at key locations in Tampa Bay and will continue to do so throughout this process. Background and future sampling data can be found on DEP’s webpage.

Key status updates and response activities (bolded and underlined language reflects changes):

  • The site received 1.03 inches of rain this week. Piney Point has received approximately 32.41 inches of rain since Jan. 1, 2022. In response to rain events, clean, non-contact stormwater will be conveyed as needed through the site's permitted outfall along Buckeye Road. Samples are collected at the permitted outfall during runoff events to confirm the stormwater meets the requirements of its permit.
  • The current storage capacity for additional rainfall at the site is approximately 26.1 inches. This capacity is expected to change with rainfall amounts, as well as adjusted water management activities at the site.
  • 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, 31,708,385 gallons have been transferred. Spray evaporation also continues in the NGS-North compartment and a secondary evaporation system was installed at the site to aid in water removal efforts.
  • Approximately 262 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.

Residents can find the latest information on the status of the site, response activities and water quality at ProtectingFloridaTogether.gov/PineyPointUpdate.