Hydrogen peroxide leaks at Lake Mary water treatment plant

Hydrogen peroxide escaped early Friday from a large tank at Lake Mary’s water treatment plant, a high-tech facility designed to mitigate contamination in the city’s drinking water, though fire officials said the leak is contained and of no threat.

Lillian Sexton, Lake Mary’s fire marshal, said there was “no imminent danger.” Just before 2 p.m., the city announced that the leak had been stopped, and there was no change to the city’s water quality.

An investigation is underway into how the leak happened at the 2-year-old plant at 263 Rinehart Road. It was a first-time event.

There were no injuries, officials said. Nearby Crystal Lakes Elementary was not evacuated.

Seminole County firefighters respond to a hydrogen peroxide leak at the Lake Mary Water treatment plant on Rinehart Road, Friday, August 25, 2023. . (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

A Seminole County firefighter suits up during the response to a hydrogen peroxide leak at the Lake Mary Water treatment plant on Rinehart Road, Friday, August 25, 2023. . (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Seminole County firefighters respond to a hydrogen peroxide leak at the Lake Mary Water treatment plant on Rinehart Road, Friday, August 25, 2023. . (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Firefighters respond to a hydrogen peroxide leak at the Lake Mary Water treatment plant on Rinehart Road, Friday, August 25, 2023. . (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Seminole County firefighters respond to a hydrogen peroxide leak at the Lake Mary Water treatment plant on Rinehart Road, Friday, August 25, 2023. . (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Lake Mary fire chief Michael Johansmeyer answers questions on the scene of a hydrogen peroxide leak at the Lake Mary Water treatment plant on Rinehart Road, Friday, August 25, 2023. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Lake Mary fire chief Michael Johansmeyer answers question as Lake Mary chief water plant operator Scott Rankin, background, listens on the scene of a hydrogen peroxide leak at the Lake Mary Water treatment plant on Rinehart Road, Friday, August 25, 2023. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Lake Mary chief water plant operator Scott Rankin addresses the media after firefighters responded to a hydrogen peroxide leak at the Lake Mary Water treatment plant on Rinehart Road, Friday, August 25, 2023. . (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

A cyclist passes the scene as firefighters respond to a hydrogen peroxide leak at the Lake Mary Water treatment plant on Rinehart Road, Friday, August 25, 2023. . (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Lake Mary’s Chief Water Plant Operator Scott Rankin said that when he arrived at work just before 6 a.m., he noticed a mist coming out of the 2,500-gallon tank that contains hydrogen peroxide.

“When I got on site, I could see what I’m going to call a mist,” Rankin said. “So I evacuated myself out of the facility and called 911.”

Lake Mary Fire Chief Michael Johansmeyer said the leak was only the vapor and not any liquid form of the chemical.

“Anything that we have released from the tank has been contained,” Johansmeyer said at a press conference. “The vapor is inert. So when it’s going away, there is no concern for the environment or personnel.”

Rankin said that despite the leak, “we’ve been able to maintain 100% operations during this event and expect to during the whole duration.”

Agencies that responded include the Lake Mary Fire Department, Seminole County Fire Department and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

By late Friday morning, neither Sanford nor Seminole County utilities officials had received a request for assistance from Lake Mary. The water systems of the two cities and county have connection points that can be opened to share water supplies during disruptions or emergencies.

Lake Mary’s water treatment plant is the only one like it in Florida, according to city officials. It took six years to design and construct, and began operating in 2021.

The plant cleans nearly 4 million gallons of water daily through a series of steps much more complex and costly than at typical treatment plants in Florida.

The city’s plant was specifically equipped to destroy the synthetic industrial chemical 1,4-dioxane that contaminates well water in Lake Mary, Sanford and northwest Seminole County.

Q&A: What is 1,4-dioxane, is it safe to drink and how do you get rid of it?

It works by mixing hydrogen peroxide into water coming from five wells pumping from the underground Floridan Aquifer.

That mixture then is pumped into three chambers, each of which contains nearly 200 1,000-watt ultraviolet lamps.

When UV radiation strikes hydrogen peroxide, it creates molecules called “hydroxyl radicals,” which are very destructive of pollutants like 1,4-dioxane.

That treated water is then pumped through one of six chambers, each holding 60,000 pounds of granular carbon, to remove unwanted by-products from the hydrogen peroxide-UV treatment.

In higher concentrations, hydrogen peroxide is dangerous to people and potentially explosive. Hydrogen peroxide comes in a wide variety of concentrations in water, including a ratio of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide for household use.

The plant uses the chemical at a concentration of 50 percent, which can cause severe burns and major eye injury, and can accelerate fires and even trigger combustion of organic materials.

1,4-dixoane, which contaminated the ground beneath a former telephone equipment factory just east of Interstate 4 in Lake Mary, where it was used as a solvent, was detected in the city’s drinking water a decade ago, and also in wells in Seminole County and Sanford.

The contamination was little-known before the Orlando Sentinel revealed it in its recent Toxic Secret series.

The plant, built at an estimated cost of nearly $40 million, was paid for “voluntarily” by former owners of the factory as part of a 2017 agreement with the city and state.

Kevin Spear and Jeff Weiner of the Sentinel staff contributed.

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Hydrogen peroxide leaks at Lake Mary water treatment plant