Piney Point Pond Update: Officials Investigating Potential Second Leak Spotted by Drone

Officials are now investigating a possible second leak at the Piney Point pond amid the imminent threat of the reservoir's collapse.

A new update on the emergency situation was provided Monday afternoon by Manatee County public safety officials and government leaders, including U.S. GOP Representative Vern Buchanan of Sarasota.

Jacob Saur, the county's public safety director, said the leak continues at the containment wall at the former phosphate plant and announced the possible discovery of a new opening.

"At approximately 2 a.m. an infrared drone identified a signature that could indicate a second breach and the engineering team evacuated the site," Saur said. "However, I will tell you that the Army Corps of Engineers and new engineers from the Department of Environmental Protection are back out at the site now and they're reassessing that."

Saur said after the assessment is completed more information will be released.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Saturday in response to the toxic pond leak at Piney Point. The 77-acre reservoir holds millions of gallons of water that contains phosphorus and nitrogen from a former phosphate plant.

On Sunday, DeSantis assured the public that the water being discharged into Tampa Bay and the Gulf Coast is not radioactive.

"What we're looking at now is trying to prevent and respond to, if need be, a real catastrophic flood situation," DeSantis said. "The goal is to ensure the integrity of the stack system as quickly as possible in order to minimize impacts to local residents and to prevent an uncontrolled discharge."

More than 300 homes in Manatee County were ordered to evacuate because of the leak, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Scott Hopes, the acting administrator for the county, previously warned residents that "if you are in an evacuation area and you have not heeded that, you need to think twice and follow the orders."

Officials said Monday that 35 million gallons of water were being pumped out of the pond and into the bay each day. They hope to increase the output to between 75 million and 100 million gallons per day.

Buchanan took a helicopter tour to survey the damage, saying he was very concerned about the impact of the leak on marine life and the threat to public safety, homes and businesses. He stressed the need to "bring all the resources we can" to get the situation fixed and called for a unified federal response.

"To see the reality of [it] is very concerning to me," Buchanan said at the news conference. "To see the water spewing out, it looked very contaminated to me."

Update: This story has been updated to include more comments from Buchanan.