Residents evacuated urgently when a wastewater pond leaks and is at risk of collapse in the U.S.

　　China News Service, April 5, reported a comprehensive report that a leak occurred in the wastewater pond of a sewage treatment plant in Tampa, Florida, and there was a risk of collapse.

Florida Governor DeSantis has announced that Manati County, where the sewage treatment plant is located, has entered a state of emergency, and the residents of Manati County have also been asked to evacuate urgently.

　　The Associated Press pointed out that since the leak in the wastewater pond of the sewage treatment plant Piney Point in March, the staff have been draining waste water.

On April 2nd, relevant parties detected a major leak in the wastewater pond and upgraded their response measures, urging the first group of people to evacuate.

On the 3rd, the authorities declared that the county was in a state of emergency.

　　Initially, the Public Security Department of Manati County issued an emergency evacuation notice to residents within half a mile of the sewage treatment plant on April 2. The mandatory evacuation order continued to expand on the evening of the 3rd local time.

At present, Piney Point and surrounding areas have received a full evacuation order.

The public safety department said that there were 316 families in the entire evacuation area.

　　The chief executive of Manati County, Scott Hopps, said that the wastewater in the pool was “not conducive to land and marine life”.

Officials warned that the pool is in danger of collapsing "at any time" and will release sewage uncontrollably.

According to reports, if this wastewater pond fails, it may flood the phosphogypsum pile left by a nearby fertilizer plant.

It is generally believed that phosphogypsum is radioactive because it contains radon equivalents, as well as toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury.

　　Local officials pointed out that state-level resources are being deployed to the area.

According to the director of the county's public safety bureau, repairers worked overnight on the 2nd to try to repair the leak, but they were not successful.

Part of the retaining wall at the leak site has moved laterally, and the site engineer believes that the situation is escalating.

　　Hopps pointed out that if the wall breaks and cracks appear, hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage may overflow.

Noah Wallenstein, Minister of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, stated that the wastewater in the pool does not contain radioactive elements.