Three Florida residents have filed a lawsuit against Mosaic Co. that seeks to hold the fertilizer company responsible for potential contamination of their drinking water wells after a 45-foot-wide sinkhole opened at one of its plants, releasing wastewater into an underground aquifer.
Mosaic said last week the massive sinkhole had opened up at its New Wales facility, which produces fertilizer and ingredients for animal feed from phosphate rock. Millions of gallons of contaminated water spilled toward the Florida aquifer that supplies drinking water to nearby wells.
The hole drained 215 million gallons of acidic water, as a well as a type of fertilizer byproduct that is slightly radioactive, from a pond atop of a huge pile of mining waste called a phosphogypsum stack, or a “gyp stack.”
“We are reviewing the details of this filing and will respond through the judicial process,” said Ben Pratt, a spokesman for Mosaic.
Mosaic says it discovered a decline in water levels at the “gyp stack” on Aug. 27, after which it alerted government officials and immediately began aggressive groundwater monitoring and sampling to detect contamination.
The fertilizer maker is also pumping wastewater released through the sinkhole out of the aquifer, saying this is possible because water in the aquifer moves slowly, at a rate of about 1,000 feet a month. The company says monitoring shows no wastewater has spread off its property and that operations at the plant continue uninterrupted.
Mosaic is offering free, third-party testing of water wells and bottled water to nearby residents who want it until they get assurances their well water hasn’t been tainted.
Despite the company’s assurances, some environmentalists see the incident as cause for alarm, in part because they say the Florida aquifer is porous.
“This new sinkhole demonstrates that the waste disposal methods of Mosaic’s fertilizer processing plants and gyp stack disposal systems can be dangerous,” said Beverly Griffiths, chair of Sierra Club Florida’s phosphate committee.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said it is visiting Mosaic’s plant frequently as well as receiving daily updates from the company, including the latest results from groundwater monitoring.
Write to Jesse Newman at jesse.newman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 09-23-161145ET Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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