Dead fish washed up on the Alafia River shoreline

Date of incident: December 7, 1997.

Location: Alafia River, near Mulberry Phosphates Inc. (MPI) facility, in Mulberry, FL.

Trustees:

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

Case status: Settled, restoration in planning stage.

Overview: On December 7, 1997, a breach occurred in the wall of a phosphogypsum stack located at the MPI phosphoric acid/fertilizer production facility in Mulberry, Polk County, Florida. As a result of this breach, approximately 50 million gallons of acidic process water overflowed return and collection systems and ran into and through Skinned Sapling Creek into the Alafia River. Over the course of the next week to ten days, the released process water traversed approximately 35 miles of the Alafia River to Tampa Bay. The release lowered the pH of the Alafia River for several days, and added large amounts of nutrients to the river system, causing injuries to freshwater wetlands, fish, crab and shrimp, surface waters, oysters and birds.

Restoration projects include:

• The release of 154 juvenile snook into the Alafia River (completed in 1998).
• Restoration of freshwater riverine habitat (planning underway).
• Restoration of estuarine wetland habitat (planning underway).
• Creation of oyster reef (planning underway).

Phosphogypsum stack from which acidic water was released