Florida’s phosphate industry is known to own and strip mining land in waterfront areas of the state. Particularly in central Florida, where the region’s drinking water is becoming degraded due to the practices of the phosphate industry (1). The phosphate mining industry consists of some twenty-seven sites in Florida combined, but most of the largest phosphate mines are located in central Florida south of Interstate Four (I-4).
Riparian areas in central Florida, which include upland floodplains and wetlands, are considered the most important buffer areas to protect the quality of “receiving water” (water entering the system). The quality and quantity of water depend on a particular set of variables. Each variable is responsible for a particular task in the natural production of clear and clean drinking water.
One pollutant in particular causes the most severe environmental impacts called phosphorus (2). High levels of phosphorus in an aquatic habitat cause severe algae blooms which, in turn, reduce a critical variable called dissolved oxygen in the water. This in turn causes the weaker flora to disappear, taking with it the fauna on which it fed. The cycle continues until all flora and fauna have disappeared, causing dead zones.
Dead zones are sterile areas that can exist as long as the toxin that creates the dead zone exists. In this case, phosphorous-based nutrients (pollutants) from phosphate mining are causing dead zones in riparian lands and waterways. Industry practices are the cause of many environmental problems, including the contamination of public freshwater resources. After all, freshwater resources belong to the state and are considered in the public domain. Florida’s phosphate industry can consume just enough water so as not to disturb adjacent landowners or downstream users of the subject water body.
Phosphate industry officials are conducting operations to decommission this region of Florida possibly without legal authorization based on the Florida Public Trust Doctrine. Keep in mind that this region is home to the majority of Florida’s watersheds north of the Everglades, so ecologically speaking it is unmatched anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, the natural process that created such a landscape also produced one of the most sought-after minerals for fertilizer production called phosphate, and it intermingles with central Florida’s potable freshwater resources that support numerous habitats, including a sport fishing ground for 1.8 billion dollars.
Florida does not need phosphate mining as an economic pillar. In fact, over the past forty years, phosphate mining has cost local taxpayers billions of dollars in lost revenue due to industry accidents alone.
Interestingly, this same region contains the freshwater resources of central Florida intertwined with the watersheds that support the lowlands and wetlands. A phosphate mine can cover up to one hundred thousand acres, including central Florida’s watersheds, wetlands and drinking water resources. Central Florida also contains navigable waterways and riparian land that have been completely removed from the land by the phosphate industry. Using Google© Earth, it is clear to see the severe environmental impacts in the region described above.
Unfortunately, the Peace River watershed sits on land owned by the phosphate industry and while the industry has no legal right to mine the region’s waterways, they do so anyway. Florida’s elected officials appear blind to the serious environmental impacts on Florida’s freshwater resources. Yet water officials continue to issue permits to mine large tracts of land in Florida’s watersheds, knowing the irreparable damage that is being done.
The Peace River in central Florida is the eighth most threatened river in the United States and supports the region’s critical environmental connection, including the natural habitats of numerous species of flora and fauna.
Not surprisingly, the headwaters of the Peace River are contaminated with high levels of algae due to phosphate-based nutrients (pollutants). Interestingly, the phosphate industry also strip mines in this region, creating phosphorus-based contaminants. Industry officials say they don’t know how the high levels of phosphorus get into the Peace River waters. Industry officials say it’s not their facilities that are causing the problem. Now that the concentration of phosphorus in central Florida’s water bodies is so great, a University of Miami researcher’s study suggests that high phosphorus levels are also increasing red tide outbreaks where rivers and streams reach. to the Gulf of Mexico.
The importance of the Peace River watershed in producing drinking water and essential habitats cannot be underestimated. This region also contains floodwaters to recharge the area’s aquifers, rivers, and lakes. Central Florida’s wetlands provide habitats for priceless species of flora and fauna. All of which help keep your drinking water production clean and fresh.
Reference
1. Phosphate mining. – http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/mines/manpho.htm
2. NCSU Water Quality Group WETLAND MANAGEMENT. – http://www.water.ncsu.edu/watershedss/info/wetlands/manage.html