Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

When hurricane Jeanne hit, 30 cm of rain poured down onto a fertiliser plant, causing a spill of 15,000 m³ of process water containing small amounts of phosphoric acid. The overflow weir emptied into the adjacent rainwater-filled basin, entering the pits and shafts of former phosphate mines located in the vicinity. Employees built dams and tried to contain and neutralise the pollution before it reached the PEACE RIVER. Samples drawn within a 4-km radius around the plant did not reveal any significant acid concentrations. A manager with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced that the pollution had been contained and moreover that any environmental impact had been averted. Authorities however still feared that acid effluent had found its way into one of the mine’s drainage pipes left open.

Prior to the accident, the level of process water had been high due to the consecutive sequence of hurricanes Charley and Frances over the previous few months. The operator had already been implicated in another accident during the same month.

Three weeks earlier, in Riverview, 265,000 m³ of acidic water had spilled into a stream leading to Hillsborough Bay, following a dike break. The government’s environmental protection agency (EPA) had plans to strengthen regulations regarding management practices for gypsum and runoff water storage.