{"id":11771,"date":"2023-11-28T23:45:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T23:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/millions-of-gallons-of-wastewater-spill-after-sinkhole-opens-up-in-historic-florida-theme-park\/"},"modified":"2023-11-28T23:45:55","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T23:45:55","slug":"millions-of-gallons-of-wastewater-spill-after-sinkhole-opens-up-in-historic-florida-theme-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scrapoid.com\/millions-of-gallons-of-wastewater-spill-after-sinkhole-opens-up-in-historic-florida-theme-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Millions of gallons of wastewater spill after sinkhole opens up in historic Florida theme park"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A sinkhole opened under a Florida theme park earlier this month, dumping millions of gallons of wastewater near attractions, according to state environmental regulators and a company spokesperson. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Employees at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay \u2013 an animal-themed amusement park \u2013 discovered the 15-foot-by-15-foot sinkhole under a wastewater pond early on the morning of Nov. 18, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The pond is over 550 feet long and is located a few hundred feet from a popular water ride called Congo River Rapids.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The opening drained the pond of water underground,” Busch Gardens spokesperson Eddie Delgado told the Tampa Bay Times in a statement. “Water levels are monitored 24×7 and we were alerted to the issue as water levels began to slowly drop in the morning (on Nov. 18).”\u00a0<\/p>\n
WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Later that day, the theme park informed the Florida environmental department about the sinkhole.\u00a0<\/p>\n The area where the sinkhole formed was the last of a series of ponds used for the theme park’s wastewater management system, according to Brian Humphreys of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The pond located above the sinkhole did not contain raw sewage, he said, though some of the other ponds in the park do carry biological material.\u00a0<\/p>\n The department later estimated that 2.5 million gallons of wastewater were spilled.\u00a0<\/p>\n