Water-quality and hydrogeologic data for three phosphate industry waste-disposal sites in central Florida, 1979-80

Abstract – This report is a compilation of geologic, hydrologic, and water-quality data collected in the vicinity of gypsum stack complexes at two phosphate chemical plants and one phosphatic clayey waste-disposal pond at a phosphate mine and beneficiation plant in central Florida. The data were collected from September 1979 to October 1980 at the AMAX Phosphate, Inc., chemical plant, Piney Point; the USS Agri-Chemicals chemical plant, Bartow; and the International Minerals and Chemical Corporation, Clear Springs Mine, Bartow. Approximately 5,400 field and laboratory water-quality determinations on water samples from 78 test holes and 31 surface-water, rainfall, and other sampling sites at phosphate industry beneficiation and chemical plant waste-disposal operations are tabulated. Records of the test holes and data collection sites as well as geologic and hydrologic data for selected test holes are presented. Maps show locations of the sampling sites.

Comments – This is a specialized data set collected by Ronald L. Miller, a chemist for the U.S. Geological Survey. The data set was rigorously checked for data quality. It shows the distance that chemical contamination moves away from the 2 gypsum stacks and 1 “slime pond”. This data set is the basis for the classic 184-page interpretive report by Ronald L. Miller and Horace Sutcliffe, Jr. on the migration of contaminants from phosphate industry waste disposal operations. The interpretive report is Miller, R. L., and Sutcliffe, H., Jr., 1984, Effects of three phosphate industrial sites on ground-water quality in central Florida, 1979 to 1980: U.S. Geol. Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 83-4256, 184 p. Horace Sutcliffe, Jr. is deceased. Ronald L. Miller has retired from the U.S. Geological Survey, but he is still active in the field of water-quality, drinking-water quality, and environmental chemistry under the name of Chem-Hydro Science and Consumer Products, LLC, in Tampa, Florida.