MANATEE COUNTY- Manatee County moves one step closer to a final solution for Piney Point voting six to one on a Deep Well Injection plan. Manatee County Commission approved an almost $10 million dollar contract for a Deep Well Injection solution to Piney Point.
“We are handling the contract for the well,” Dr. Scott Hopes said. “With the expectation of the state reimbursing the cost under the State Emergency and that the pre-processing will be handled, this bid includes the pre-processsing.”
“I’ve never been in favor of a Deep Water Injection well,” Chair Vanessa Baugh said. “I’m still not, but I think it’s fair to say at this point we don’t have a choice, we’ve got to get Piney Point closed down as quickly as possible.”
Commissioner Misty Servia says the science behind the well and the fact it will be processed first swayed her in favor.
“The process water which has nutrients in it,” Commissioner Servia said. “Which we will cleanse before injecting in the well, these are the things that gave me the confidence to know this is the right decision.”
Residents living near Piney Point say they still have a lot of safety concerns.
“No one has tested my well water,” Skye Grundy said. “Or anyone on my street, or anyone in my community, we pay for private well testing, and for the tests we’ll have to do now will be in the thousands of dollars.”
The Commission voted to have the county explore expedited well water testing for nearby residents to ensure they were not affected.
“We don’t believe they were,” Commissioner Satcher said. “But also we’re not the ones living there drinking that water, if we were we’d want to get it tested, and it shouldn’t be thousands of dollars per resident to get it tested.”
Commissioner Reggie Bellamy was the only commissioner to vote against the deep well injection contract.