The University of Miami has found something that could affect everyone living in Coral Gables and the surrounding area. A spike in the radioactive element called tritium could indicate a problem that the Florida Power & Light company has ignored for years, but what do Floridians need to know about this contamination?
Is There Nuclear Runoff In Biscayne Bay?
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Tropical Audubon Society have warned FPL that it needs to clean up its act or they are taking the power company to court. This in response to a U of M study released March 7 indicating that Biscayne Bay has 215 times the normal amount of radioactive tritium in its surface water.
FPL spokesperson Rob Gould says that this is still 78 percent lower than the EPA standard for drinking water, but the environmental groups say that the spike is proof that the 40-year-old canals that cool the nuclear plant in Turkey Point are leaking. This is not the first claims of leakage to hit FPL recently.
How A Nuclear Leak Could Affect Your Drinking Water
An administrative law judge out of Tallahassee has already ruled that FPL needs to clean up its canals. The ruling came after it was discovered that a plume of salt water laced with tritium was moving toward the Biscayne aquifer. This could have an adverse effect on drinking water all over Miami and the surrounding area.
The potential lawsuit over Turkey Point seepage into Biscayne Bay could just be the beginning to setting the FPL contamination straight, but will it help? What can FPL do to fix their leaky canals? Will more environmental lawsuits follow if the problems can’t be fixed? Keep following our blog to learn more about protecting Coral Gables from corporate greed, and protecting our environment from those who seek to exploit it.
