(WWL.com) - A section of gypsum containment wall in Convent holding back 720 million gallons of acidic and lightly radioactive wastewater is in danger of failing, potentially releasing contaminated water into the nearby Blind River, which feeds Lake Maurepas.
The 139 acre, 30-40 foot deep lake of waste is the by-product of a Mosaic fertilizer plant. Department of Environmental Quality Spokesperson Greg Langley.
“We do not believe that it will fail catastrophically, but we cannot rule out that possibility.”
The Mississippi River is also visible from the wastewater lake.
The initial discovery was made by a farmer who grew sugar cane adjacent to the acidic pool of wastewater. A few weeks ago he noted the wall had been creeping outward, and Langley says further review confirmed that.
“The movement that they tracked was about an inch to half an inch a day. It had already moved several feet, and it displaced a road that runs that’s atop a levee that runs around the base.”
Langley says they’ve begun trying to sure up the gypsum wall with additional dirt, and are moving nearly 10 million gallons a day to other containment areas on the property to lower the pressure on the wall.
“Right now the remedy is to pump the water out and put it in other places in the facility, and that is what is going on right now.”