PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Cleanup has begun at the former Mississippi Phosphates Corp. site as The Mississippi Press toured the site on Tuesday to view beginning stages of Phase 1, focused on cleaning of the East Gypsum Stack.
According to Environmental Protection Agency Remedial Project Manager Craig Zeller, the rainwater treatment business is an expensive one and with recent the rainfall, 4.5 million gallons of water is being treated and cleaned per day.
Design of the first phase of the closure system was completed between May and Sept. 2018 based on the completion of a value engineering study.
The East Gypsum Stack stretches across more than 200 acres and is comprised of four ponds. Water treated around the stack is composed of both good and highly acidic wastewater.
Four slurry walls stretches across the stack, treating the ponds like a bathtub. When rain falls, water falls directly off of the stack into selected ponds and are confined by the walls.
Acidic wastewater with lime sludge is mixed with gypsum to form a type of "cake batter" to be placed in the landfill. Everything is treated on-site which should provide some level of solace for residents. (Tyler Carter/tcarter@al.com)
The walls contains the water in its specific ponds, keeping the acidic water from flowing into the bayou, according to Zeller.
Phase 1a., is currently being worked on and stretches 50 acres. Several bridges will be built similar to a wedding cake, according to Zeller where pipes holding clean rain water will be captured and conveyed across the bridges under the road into a clean water ditch.
"We're way ahead of the game here," Zeller said. "We are probably in the best shape of water storage than we have been in awhile."
The cleanup consists of three phases each lasting a year, according to Zeller. Kemron is serving as the contractor and utilizes the workforce across Jackson County, with their primary focus being the removal of Pond 4 lime sludge.
The study evaluated the possible use of local dredge spoil to cap and close the East Gypsum Stack and the use of geosynthetic turf as an alternative to a traditional soil and grass cap/cover system.
According to Kemron, the geosynthetic turf will save taxpayers an estimated $6 million, including $4.6 million on construction costs and $1.4 million in operations and maintenance costs.
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) will control the site once the cleanup is complete.
Additionally, 42,700 truck trips were avoided using geosynthetic turf and decreases the amount of days of ongoing wastewater treatment which currently averages $40,000 a day, according to Zeller.
- Phase 1 (2018-2019) - Closure of the current East Gypsum Stack, including Pond 3 and Pond 4 and stack side slopes. Phase 1 will reduce rain water contact by 155 acres, or 41 percent. Cost of $31.4 million.
- Phase 2 (2019-2020) - Closure of East Gypsum Stack Pond 5 and the West Gypsum Stack North Ponds. Phase 2 will reduce rain water contact by an additional 90 acres, or 64 percent total. Cost of $18.4 million.
- Phase 3 (2020-2021) - Closure of East Gypsum Stack Pond 6 and the water return ditch around the perimeter of the East Gypsum Stack. Phase 3 results in 100 percent closure. Cost of $21.8 million.
The City of Pascagoula will not incur any charges as the federal government is providing funding for site cleanup.