MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — For decades, the Piney Point facility has been an environmental issue in Manatee County.

But after months of permitting and planning, construction for a deep water injection well started this week.

Machinery will make the deep water injection well 3,300 feet below ground, where the highly polluted water will be treated.

Then, using a steel beam, the injection will funnel that water past the aquifer. Project officials said there will be little chance of it leaking.

In April, a leak in one of former phosphate plant’s holding pools led to millions of gallons of waste water being spilled into Tampa Bay.

Environmental groups found extremely high levels of nitrogen and phosphate in the waste water. The combination may have contributed to red tide this year, environmental officials said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has allocated more than $100 million to close the facility.

The new well is set to be complete by the end of 2022.

“It’s like drill, baby drill,” Dr. Scott Hopes with Manatee County said of the project. “So they are going to be starting in the middle of January 24 hours a day 7 days a week, they’ve got a good head start on it.”