Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis over Tampa Bay.

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HANDOUT / TWITTER / AFP

The governor of the US state of Florida, Ron DeSantis, visited on Sunday the site of a reservoir whose toxic wastewater is leaking, threatening nearby homes and which could constitute an environmental disaster in the fragile bay of Tampa.

Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Saturday in order to allocate new funds to tackle this potential crisis at Piney Point, where the plastic coating of this reservoir, containing more than a million cubic meters of toxic sewage and radioactive, began to leak.

Authorities are trying to stop the leak, as well as pumping water out of the reservoir to reduce pressure, but have warned that contaminated water could spill into the surrounding area.

Manatee county officials on Saturday ordered the "complete evacuation" of the area around the reservoir following "worsening of the leakage of the stockpile of phosphogypsum", a by-product of the manufacture of fertilizers, considered to be weak. radioactive.

More than 300 homes are affected by the evacuation order.

Ron DeSantis announced on Twitter that he was traveling to Manatee County this Sunday to meet with local officials and take stock of the situation at Piney Point.

"All residents should heed evacuation orders," he wrote.

Florida agriculture official Nicole Fried wrote to the governor, saying the ongoing crisis was only the latest to affect the site.

"For more than fifty years, this mining operation in central Florida has caused many disasters and environmental and public health incidents," she wrote, adding that the lining of the reservoir had already failed several times by the past.

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