Stop Toxic Waste from Being Injected Into the Earth at Piney Point

Photo by Tampa Bay Times

This is an actual image of the wastewater at Piney Point being released into Tampa Bay in March 2021. The water is bright green because it contains radioactive elements such as phosphorous, nitrogen, ammonia, uranium, thorium, radium, and emits radon.

If you think this shouldn't go into the ocean, you are right.

But it already happened, and we have severely paid the price. A harsh wave of Red Tide was induced for nearly nine months, which made the water unsafe to swim in and killed thousands of marine life.

Now, Manatee County and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), want to inject that same waste into the ground, and possibly contaminate the drinking water of millions of Floridians.

This is not okay.

Nor is it the only option (despite claims from officials). Water treatment processes, such as filtration and reverse osmosis, have been used successfully in the past at Piney Point. These methods should be highly favored over the deep injection well that will be used to essentially bury and hide the mess at Piney Point.

This is a huge issue to me, especially because not many people were made aware of this proposed action. I wanted to spread the word and try to take some action against the problem.

The Petition

For my project, I wanted to do something that stood out and had that "wow" factor.

The obvious component was to create an informative petition that can be easily shared and signed on change.org.

Please click this link and read the petition for an in-depth review of the issue:

And Please Sign!

Stop Toxic Waste from Being Injected Into the Earth at Piney Point

The petition, which is right above, used the deficit model, which is the assumption that providing more facts and information will change people's minds (Pezzullo & Cox, 2017). It is mostly ineffective now when communicating scientific and environmental issues such as climate change. But as I spoke about this issue with other people, no one had any clue what I was talking about. People needed more information. So, I made sure to include paragraphs of information, thoroughly explaining the situation and briefly mentioning some history.

Of course, with so much information, there needs to be some emotion and purpose added for it to be effective. I made sure to inject (pun intended) my voice into the petition so that the problem and solution could actually be heard.

I also made sure to set up a letter that would be sent to the decision-makers from every person who signed.

So far, the petition has received over 50 signatures, 180 views, and 18 shares.

Comments from signers of the petition

The Art Installation

However, the petition by itself wasn't going to gain much momentum. I wanted to make an eye-catching art installation that would really make people think.

The picture of the Piney Point wastewater (at the top) being released into the ocean has always astonished me. The bright green, radioactive waste is almost cartoon-like.

People need to see what their reality could be if the deep injection well is constructed. It is a very possible risk that the radioactive, "cartoon" wastewater could leak into the Floridan aquifer, which is where Floridians get their drinking water.

So, I created an art installation that dispensed bright green water, using my five-gallon water jug and a rechargeable pump dispenser. I filled the jug with recycled water from the Eckerd sprinklers and mixed it with neon green, water-soluble paint. The front of the jug was spray-painted silver so you couldn't see the water inside, and to somewhat represent a traditional silver sink. A sign on the outside read "'Fresh' Floridian Drinking Water" along with a scannable QR code, which lead to my informative petition.

My installation used visual rhetoric, which is images that construct a particular view of nature and environmental problems (Pezzullo & Cox, 2017). The jug dispensed bright green water, which represents the radioactive waste at Piney Point, clearly showing the issue. Deep injecting the waste into the Earth will pose the risk of it leaking into the drinking water that comes out of our faucets.

I sat outside of the Eckerd College Pub with my art installation for two days during lunch hours and in the evening. I offered people glasses of the dispensed water and asked if they would drink it. This created a conversation and an opportunity to tell them about the issue and ask if they wanted to scan the code and sign my petition. Almost every person scanned the code and hopefully read the petition and signed.

It was really fun and eye-opening talking to people who would actually listen and care. Nearly everyone I talked to was super friendly and receptive to scanning the QR code.

My friends looking at my installation and scanning the QR code

The QR code for the petition

Sharing Online

To further gain momentum on my petition, I shared it on all my personal social media. This utilized the action of clicktivism, which is "taking action simply by clicking on a link online" (Pezzullo & Cox, 2017). By creating posts on my social media, people could easily slide up or click to sign my petition. I tried to make the posts personal and engaging so that people would feel more inclined to click and sign. Some people even shared the petition on their own social media!

Story on my personal Instagram

Post on my personal Facebook

Screenshot of someone sharing my petition on Snapchat

Story post on my personal Snapchat

I also shared the petition by personally sending it to friends and family via text and direct message.

The Goal

The goal of my project was to engage with as many people as possible about the issue at Piney Point. I wanted people to feel something towards it and want to take action in some way.

By creating an informative petition, sending it directly to friends and family, continually sharing it on social media, and publicly displaying my art installation, I think this goal was achieved.

I tried to share my petition and display my installation as much as I could with the time that I had. Although the number of signatures I received isn't significantly high, I know that I made many people aware of this serious issue.

People that I talked to were outraged and appalled by the issue, which is exactly what I wanted.

I wish I had even more time to display my installation, not just on the Eckerd campus, but in other bustling areas of St. Petersburg, such as downtown by the pier.

I will continue to tell people about the injection of toxic wastewater into the Earth at Piney Point. It is important because if nothing is done to stop this injustice, it will just perpetuate the detrimental mismanagement of harmful phosphate mining plants in the future.

So please, join me to