A new study indicates the plume of Piney Point’s polluted water reached beyond Tampa Bay.
In the spring of 2021, the state authorized the discharge of nutrient-rich wastewater — more than 215 million gallons — from the decommissioned Piney Point fertilizer plant.
By the summer of 2021, the region was suffering an extended bout of red tide and massive blooms of gumbo algae said to be tied to the release of the Piney Point water, water rich in nitrogen and phosphorous.
For a year after the discharge, to better understand the impact of the Piney Point discharge on estuarine health, scientists monitored water at four sites — one near Piney Point, two “back bay” locations and outside the bay at St. Joseph Sound near Tarpon Springs.
Piney Point’s water, the scientists said, contained a signature or fingerprint and the researchers, comparing water samples from April 2021 to April 2022 found that some of the polluted wastewater was transported outside of Tampa Bay, at least as far north as St. Joseph Sound, and probably also to the south.
Modeling by the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science after the discharges in 2021 showed the plume reaching beyond the bay — into the Gulf of Mexico.
The peer-reviewed research, published in late May in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, involved scientists with the University of Florida at Gainesville and St. Augustine and with the Sarasota Bay and Tampa Bay estuary programs.
Funding from the National Science Foundation and the Ocean Conservancy supported the research.
Meanwhile, Manatee County continues to partner with the state on closing Piney Point.
This spring, Manatee County began transferring wastewater from the phosphogypsum stacks to a deep injection well.
— Lisa Neff