Manatee County’s Buckeye Road (Piney Point) Pretreatment Facility & UIC Well Operations

After the near catastrophic failure of the leaking gypsum stack liner in the spring of 2021, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), Manatee County, and facility’s court appointed bankruptcy receivership took action to develop a strategy to permanently solve one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the former Piney Point phosphate facility – how to manage, treat, and dispose of hundreds of millions of gallons of impacted phosphate process and comingled sea water contained in lined ponds and within the inactive gypsum stack. The solution – construct and operate an underground injection control (UIC) well facility to treat and dispose of this impacted water.
While the FDEP, Donica Receivership Services, and Ardaman & Associates are actively working to close the former gypsum stack at the Piney Point facility, Manatee County’s nearby actions “across the street” were an integral part of the long-term solution to permanently close the former Piney Point facility.

ASRus assisted Manatee County with the design, permitting, and drilling oversight for the UIC well. Concurrently, McKim & Creed supported the County with the pretreatment plant design, construction oversight, and initial/startup operations.

Injection into the UIC well began in April 2023 using a temporary treatment system operated at the Piney Point facility while the pretreatment plant was under construction. The pretreatment plant came online in January 2024. McKim & Creed managed a subcontractor performing the daily operations of the plant.

From startup in January through April 2024, the pretreatment facility treated and injected roughly 58.6 million gallons of wastewater, at an average injection rate of roughly 340 gpm, and about 83% up time operations. However, in early May and after struggling with multiple operational challenges, the FDEP stopped these operations until several problems were addressed, and operational adjustments were made.

In late May 2024, CIP Solutions assumed operations of the Buckeye Road pretreatment facility and UIC well on a pay-for-performance basis. CIP improved the operational consistency and performance of the facility and UIC well. Several piping/plumbing modifications were made to improve the operational flexibility of the pretreatment system. Adjustments were also made to the chemical additives, mainly polymers, and reduced the overall chemical usage at the plant. Furthermore, CIP established a strong relationship, daily communications, and close coordination with DRS, the Piney Point receivership.

A tabulated comparison of several key performance indicators (KPIs) for the Buckeye Road pretreatment facility and UIC well (before & after CIP Solutions) is provided below:

2024 MC Buckeye Rd Facility KPIs – Prior to CIP Solutions

MC Buckeye Rd Facility KPIs – After CIP Solutions

Note 1 – PP Process ponds were emptied in late November 2025, currently treating only seepage/captured rainfall.

In summary, the “eminent” environmental catastrophe posed by the Piney Point facility a few years ago has been eliminated. Over 575 million gallons of contaminated phosphate process water and comingled brine were treated and injected. After the facility filed for bankruptcy over 25 years ago, the Piney Point process water ponds have been completely drained and are currently undergoing the long past due final closure activities.

While it most assuredly took an entire team to address this challenging project, CIP Solutions is pleased that our experience and capabilities dramatically improved the pretreatment facility and UIC well operations to help achieve this major milestone on an accelerated timeline.