FILE - This aerial Friday, Sept. 16, 2016, file photo shows a sinkhole in Mulberry, Fla., that opened up underneath a gypsum stack at a Mosaic phosphate fertilizer plant. Florida Gov. Rick Scott has issued an emergency rule requiring public notification of pollution events within 24 hours, a move that comes after it took weeks to notify local residents about the fertilizer plant that leaked millions of gallons of contaminated water into a major aquifer, according to a news release Monday, Sept. 26. (Jim Damaske/Tampa Bay Times via AP, File)
September 29, 2016 - 6:10 AM
MULBERRY, Fla. - The Latest on the sinkhole at a fertilizer plant that has contaminated Florida's main drinking water aquifer (all times local):
9:10 a.m.
A fertilizer company spokeswoman says one well on its property has seen contamination spread from a huge sinkhole that sent contaminated water and fertilizer into Florida's main drinking water aquifer.
Mosaic Co. spokeswoman Jackie Barron on Thursday said one well on the fertilizer plant's property has found contamination spread, not multiple wells as she previously stated.
So far, more than 200 million gallons of tainted water from the central Florida fertilizer plant owned by Mosaic Co. has drained from a waste heap through a 45-foot-wide hole down into the Floridan aquifer, which provides water to millions of people in the state.
Many of the plant's neighbours are waiting anxiously for test results from their wells, but the company and environmental officials say they don't believe the contamination moved off the plant's property.
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4:10 a.m.
Neighbours of a huge sinkhole sending cascades of contaminated water and fertilizer plant waste into Florida's main drinking-water aquifer are fearful and fuming that it took weeks for them to be notified about the disaster.
Many are still waiting anxiously for test results from their wells, and the company belatedly acknowledged that the groundwater contamination is spreading.
So far, more than 200 million gallons of tainted water from the central Florida fertilizer plant owned by Mosaic Co. has drained from a waste heap through a 45-foot-wide hole down into the Floridan aquifer, which provides water to millions of people in the state.
The company said Wednesday that it's starting to see contamination in tests of monitoring wells at the site, which shows the waste has spread.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016