Mosaic sought to calm Polk County residents' fears at a public meeting in Bradley Monday, the first since a huge sinkhole at the company's fertilizer plant sent millions of gallons of contaminated water into Florida's aquifer.

  • Sinkhole at Mosaic phosphate facility dumping slightly contaminated water
  • 200-plus gallons of the water has flowed from sinkhole in a gypsum stack
  • Meeting for area residents still concerned about drinking water

"You know, we know what caused it but we don't know how far it is into the water," said Earnestine Willis, who attended the meeting with several relatives.

Since the incident was made public in September, Mosaic said it has paid for testing nearly 1,400 water wells on residential private property.

According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, a few of those wells are showing slight levels of contamination but the department doesn't think it's related to the sinkhole or spill.

Resident's aren't so sure.

"We've been told a lot of things such as even if we're positive for radiation, it's not harmful or it's not harmful for 60 years, but I don't believe any of it," said Beth Sprague. "I just want to find out what to do. We're considering even moving out of the area because once it's in the water, I don't see how it's going to get out of the water."

Mosaic insists the contaminated water has been contained on-site at its New Wales fertilizer plant.

The company said it will continue to test people's private wells within a four mile radius of the plant through 2018.

"This is one of the things that we're doing to restore confidence. Our intention is to make sure no one's well, no one's water is adversely impacted from this event," said David Jellerson, who represented Mosaic at the meeting.

The company also told residents that it's still working to fill the sinkhole.

It's estimated the clean-up could cost up to $60 million.   

Workers at the New Wales plant off Highway 640 discovered the sinkhole under a gypsum stack on Aug. 27. Since then, Mosaic along with the Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA have been on site monitoring the situation. 

More than 200 million gallons of slightly radioactive water has spilled into the ground.


Mosaic officials tried to calm residents about the sinkhole that sent contaminated water into the Florida aquifer Monday. (Laurie Davison, Staff)