I haven't seen a thread about this situation. Here is the background as I understand it.
The area near Tampa has deposits rich in phosphates and nitrogen. These deposits have been mined for the production of fertilizer for many decades. You all recall how high phosphate detergents were eliminated years ago because of the harm high phosphates did to the environment.
A large phosphate mine in Manatee County did what many of these mines did to handle the high phosphate waste water produced by the mining process. It stored the water in large reservoirs. The walls of the reservoirs are built up walls, call stacks, made of another waste product, phosphogypsum. Physophogypsum is radioactive at a low level but too high for general use. It is allowed to be used to build the wall of the retention basin which is above the level of the land. So a large lake is not dug into the ground, rather it is built atop the land like an above ground backyard pool, just huge.
The mining company declared bankruptcy and left in 2001 and a new company, HRK Holdings LLC, bought the land.
HRK declared bankruptcy in 2012 For many years the risk that the wall of the basin might fail has been recognized and local citizens have been asking for some action to get rid of the ponds. Nothing has been done.
An excellent news report as of last evening is on YouTube
HERE
I really suggest you take the 8 minutes to view the video. Small leaks in the wall have developed and there is a very real concern that this break will expand and the wall will collapse. An attempt to fill the hole with rocks and mud has failed. Water of course is able to rapidly erode when it is under pressure, you know this from using a water pressure cleaner.
There are 800 million gallons of toxic water being held. And now 800 million gallons may flood the locality damaging soil and wells. The local TV station has a 2014 report on the risk of the stacks, nothing done then or since.
HERE is a story from 2013 on the toxic risk and nothing being done
HERE is a newspaper story from a reporter who has been following and details the story since 2003
Now they are pumping the toxic water out of the reservoir at 22,000 gal/minute untreated into Tampa Bay. This human pollution of the Bay would produce high levels of Phosphates and nitrogen in the Bay causing a massive algae bloom and wildlife kill.
Local citizens have been forced to evacuate but the governments have not opened any evacuation shelters nor from what I have found provided any support to these displayed people forced out of their homes because of the sudden risk of harm caused by the failure of business, local and state government to do something with over a decade of warning.