Update 2024-02-03: Clean Santa Fe and Withlacoochee Rivers 2024-02-01.

The Chemours Trail Ridge South titanium dioxide mine yesterday and today spilled Stormwater or Process water.

This is according to a report this afternoon in the daily Pollution Notice by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).

Chemours says there was no problem:

Water from reclamation cell was not contained and turbid water left the permitted facility and entered adjacent wetland. This water does not contain any hazardous materials. upon discovery, dozers reinforced the berm to contain water. Monitoring and assessment ini

Yes, it really ends in the middle of a word. Probably we will request the followup test results from FDEP.

Stormwater or Process water spill from Chemours Trail Ridge South TiO2 mine, Starke, FL 2024-01-30-31

So where did this wastewater go? The report includes latitude and longitude: 29.906479033014865, -82.0576515197747.

That turns out to be more than a mile from the Chemours Trail Ridge South Mine, and almost a mile from the Trail Ridge Mine. The report does not explain why so far.

Map: Spill from Chemours Trail Ridge South Mine in the WWALS map of the Suwannee River Water Trail (SRWT)

It’s at the top of a wetland or pond.

Map: North Florida Land Trust –Bradford County Property Appraiser

That pond turns out to be owned by North Florida Land Trust, whose website says, “North Florida Land Trust is a non-profit organization committed to protecting and preserving our region’s irreplaceable natural beauty.” I don’t know if they know about this spill. I will inform them.

That pond drains into either or both of a branch of the Alligator Creek that runs through Starke, or Prevatt Creek which goes more directly into Lake Rowell. From there, it goes through a short run into Lake Sampson, then into the Sampson River, and the Santa Fe River.

It will be interesting to see what we see in our WWALS testing on the Santa Fe River for tomorrow.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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