TAMPA, Florida: A phosphate company says more than 200 million gallons of contaminated water from a fertilizer plant in central Florida leaked into one of the state’s main underground sources of drinking water after a massive sinkhole opened up beneath a storage pond.
Mosaic, the world’s largest supplier of phosphate, said the hole opened up beneath a pile of waste material called a “gypsum stack.”
The 215-million gallon storage pond sat atop the waste mineral pile. The company said the sinkhole is about 45 feet in diameter.
Mosaic says it’s monitoring groundwater and has found no offsite impacts. The company said it’s working to recover the water.
The Polk County phosphate plant is still running. The water had been used to transport the gypsum, which is a byproduct of fertilizer production.
A spokeswoman for Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection said the company was updating state and federal agencies on the situation.
Dee Ann Miller said her agency was doing frequent site visits to safeguard public health.
“While monitoring to date indicates that the process water is being successfully contained, groundwater monitoring will continue to ensure there are no offsite or long-term effects,” she said.
The sinkhole later caused the waste pond to drain, and the contaminated water has now seeped into the aquifer.
Aquifers are massive underground systems of porous rocks that hold water.
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Massive sinkhole leaks Florida plant’s water into aquifer
Massive sinkhole leaks Florida plant’s water into aquifer
ASEAN will not certify Myanmar election or send observers, Malaysia says
KUALA LUMPUR: The 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations will not send observers to army-ruled Myanmar’s ongoing three-stage election and will therefore not endorse the poll, Malaysia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military staged a coup against a civilian government in 2021.
The election, which began in December last year, has been criticized by the United Nations, many Western countries and rights groups as a ploy to legitimize military rule through political proxies — a charge the junta has denied.
In a low turnout, voters cast their ballots in the second stage of the poll earlier this month, with the military-allied Union Solidarity and Development Party leading after securing 88 percent of the lower house seats contested over the first phase.
Speaking in parliament, Minister Mohamad Hasan said ASEAN had rejected a request from Myanmar to send election observers during the annual leaders’ summit in Kuala Lumpur last year, though some individual member states had decided to do so on their own.
“We have said that ASEAN will not send observers, and by virtue of that, we will not certify the poll,” Mohamad said in response to a question from another lawmaker about Malaysia and ASEAN’s position on the election.
Separately, Mohamad also said ASEAN was in the final stages of concluding a long-proposed code of conduct with Beijing this year concerning activities in the South China Sea.
“We hope we are able to do it by this year,” he said.
ASEAN and China pledged in 2002 to create a code of conduct but took 15 years to start discussions, and progress has been slow.
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including parts of the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam, complicating fishing and energy exploration activities by those countries.
Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military staged a coup against a civilian government in 2021.
The election, which began in December last year, has been criticized by the United Nations, many Western countries and rights groups as a ploy to legitimize military rule through political proxies — a charge the junta has denied.
In a low turnout, voters cast their ballots in the second stage of the poll earlier this month, with the military-allied Union Solidarity and Development Party leading after securing 88 percent of the lower house seats contested over the first phase.
Speaking in parliament, Minister Mohamad Hasan said ASEAN had rejected a request from Myanmar to send election observers during the annual leaders’ summit in Kuala Lumpur last year, though some individual member states had decided to do so on their own.
“We have said that ASEAN will not send observers, and by virtue of that, we will not certify the poll,” Mohamad said in response to a question from another lawmaker about Malaysia and ASEAN’s position on the election.
Separately, Mohamad also said ASEAN was in the final stages of concluding a long-proposed code of conduct with Beijing this year concerning activities in the South China Sea.
“We hope we are able to do it by this year,” he said.
ASEAN and China pledged in 2002 to create a code of conduct but took 15 years to start discussions, and progress has been slow.
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including parts of the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam, complicating fishing and energy exploration activities by those countries.
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