Crews Seal Sinkhole at Florida Fertilizer Plant

5/18/2018

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Crews have sealed a giant sinkhole that opened up beneath a fertilizer plant waste pond nearly two years ago sending millions of gallons of polluted water into Florida’s main drinking water aquifer.

A spokeswoman for facility owner Mosaic told The Tampa Bay Times that the hole at its Mulberry phosphate processing plant has been sealed and will be filled completely by the end of May.

Workers at Mosaic first noticed the hole on Aug. 27, 2016 after water in a pond atop a 190-foot-tall waste pile drained out. The public wasn’t notified until Sept. 15, 2016.

Mosaic is one of the world’s largest producers of phosphate and potash for fertilizer.

The company says no contaminants from the spill have been detected in drinking water.