Environmental organizations are concerned over how contaminated waters discharged from the Turkey Point power plant might impact Biscayne Bay in Biscayne National Park/NPS

Editor's note: This updates with comment from Florida Power & Light officials and South Florida Wildlands Association, corrects that Rep. Rodríguez is a state representative, not U.S. congressman, and adds comments from U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva.

Waters discharged from the Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Florida are contaminating Biscayne Bay and pose a threat to Biscayne National Park, according to studies commissioned by the state of Florida.

In light of that pollution, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Tropical Audubon Society on Tuesday issued notice that they would sue Florida Power and Light for Clean Water Act violations.

At Biscayne, acting-Superintendent Bill Cox said Wednesday that there have not been any measurable impacts to the park, but there is concern that the pollutants could drive algal blooms that would impact the marine life and seagrass beds.

"We don’t have a full picture of what that actually means to the park. We all know what it could mean, in terms of algal blooms," he said during a phone call.

As explained by the superintendent, the problems appear to stem from recent drought conditions in South Florida that have forced FP&L to augment the saltwater in its 168 miles of cooling canals with freshwater. That freshwater is forcing the underlying layer of saltwater, which is rich in phosphorous and ammonia, down into the porous karst geology that in turn funnels the pollutants east into Biscayne Bay and west towards public drinking water wells.

While levels of tritium, a radioactive isotope that occurs naturally and also is linked to nuclear reactors, have increased in sampling of the bay waters, reaching 4,000 picocuries per liter in one sample, they are not a great concern, said Supt. Cox, as they are well below EPA-allowed levels of 20,000 picicuries per liter.

"The tritium is not the issue. The issue is the canals have been experiencing, because of the salinity and the heat, algal blooms, and so we are seeing in the monitoring data of the county additional nutrient loading, like phosphorous and ammonia," he said. "We don’t know the full implications of that to what’s going on in the park right now. That’s something that our scientists are going to have to take a look at."

Coral reefs and the marine life they support in Biscayne Bay could be impacted by pollutants from the Turkey Point generating station/NPS

While most national parks are dominated by landscapes, Biscayne National Park is unique in that 95 percent is covered by water. The watery underworld has historically featured a wondrous and bountiful array of species, from bonefish, tarpon and oysters to groupers, barracuda, spiny lobster, and lustrous parrotfish. It also boasts more than 2,600 acres of coral reef that is part of the Florida Reef, considered to be one of the largest coral reefs in the world. This seascape and its marine life could be threatened by algal blooms that prevent sunlight from reaching far below the bay's surface.

In their notice of intent to sue, the environmental organizations argue that the utility has violated its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit by discharging "hyper-saline water contaminated with radioactive tritium into ground water, threatening the water supply for Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys."

"FPL has also violated the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants without an NPDES permit and causing violations of water quality standards in Biscayne Bay, which is protected from degradation as an Outstanding National Resource and Outstanding Florida Waters," the notice added.

Officials for Florida Power and Light said Wednesday that the situation is under control and not a threat to either the public's drinking water or the national park.

“Most important thing for people is the plant is safe. There is not a threat to wildlife, or public health, or public safety," said Peter Robbins, manager, Nuclear Communications, or FP&L's parent company, NextEra Energy. "What we’ve seen historically is that the canal system works. It’s been there for 40 plus years and its functioned very well. The drought was a declared drought. This was a prolonged, declared drought. We took some mitigation actions then. The salinity in the canals is back to where it’s expected to be.”

Going forward, Mr. Robbins said, if and when the utility needs to add more water to the canal system, blending in the water earlier in the process is expected to prevent a repeat occurrence of pushing the saltwater down into the aquifer.

"Keeping the canals in balance and healthy is the top priority," the spokesman said.

A sprawling system of canals is used to cool water discharged from the Turkey Point generating station/Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

According to officials at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the problem of discharge waters contaminating the acquifer and reaching Biscayne Bay has been around since at least 2010.

“The normal background levels of tritium formed by atmospheric deposition in the surface waters of the bay are about 0.5-3.5 pCi/L, so we have reason to be very concerned for the health and safety of our National Park and the citizens and tourists that fish, swim and recreate there,” Laura Reynolds, a consultant with Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and former executive director for Tropical Audubon Society, said in a release Tuesday. “The reality is we do not know the extent of the damage this pollution plume has caused to the marine life or how it may have traveled through the porous limestone substrate.”

The National Parks Conservation Association, while not a party to the upcoming lawsuit against the utility, has been watching the situation.

“We’re not sure at this point what the impacts to Biscayne Bay and Biscayne National Park area," Caroline McLaughlin, NPCA's Biscayne program manager, said Wednesday during a phone conversation. "I think once we expand the scope of monitoring and the scope of research we’ll be able to learn more about the impacts to Biscayne National Park.”

As to a long-term solution to the problems, she said that's up to the utility to figure out.

"We are still waiting to hear from them," said Ms. McLaughlin.

At the South Florida Wildlands Association, Executive Director Matthew Schwartz said he's been concerned about Turkey Point's system of cooling canals for years.

“I think this is a problem that should have been dealt with many, many years ago," he said. “The first solution is to line the canals. If you’re creating a closed water system to cool the Turkey Point plants, the two nukes and the two gas-fired plants, make a closed water system. Line the canals and make it closed.”

Beyond that, Mr. Schwartz said, "This plant should never have been built at this location."

Biscayne National Park, he added, is probably the only national park in the world with aging nuclear reactors for neighbors.

Florida State Representative José Javier Rodríguez in March 2015 wrote EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy asking for her agency to step in to manage the situation as "(S)tate regulators have, unfortunately, failed to adequately do so...", and just earlier this month U.S. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, made a similar request to Ms. McCarthy.

"The National Park Service and local officials in South Florida long ago identified the antiquated and insufficient cooling water canal system at Turkey Point as a significant environmental hazard and potential public health risk," wrote the congressman. "That potential is being realized now, as the plume of contaminated water is not only seeping into Biscayne National Park but also encroaching on the drinking water supply of three million Floridians."