St. Cloud water plant to no longer filter landfill runoff following coal ash debate

ST. CLOUD, Fla. — St. Cloud leaders agreed Thursday night to stop accepting runoff from a local landfill.

The town’s city council voted to stop accepting leachate, another name for the liquid runoff, which for years went to the local water treatment plant to be filtered.

The decision came after public outcry following news that millions of pounds of coal ash were being shipped to an Osceola County landfill from Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

READ: Osceola leaders call residents angry over coal ash dumping ‘keyboard cowboys,’ ‘hate-mongering'

The state department of environmental protection says coal ash contains certain toxic heavy metals. However, the agency also says the ash being delivered to the JED landfill contains those metals in "non-hazardous" amounts.

Red flags started going up for St. Cloud residents when they said they realized how much more of the runoff was being filtered through the city’s water treatment plant.

READ: Osceola residents continue to protest controversial coal ash from Puerto Rico

So they brought the issue to the city council Thursday.

To be completely sure nothing from the coal ash is harming residents St. Cloud residents, the council agreed that the water treatment plant will no longer accept the landfill's runoff.

Watch Eyewitness News for continuing coverage of the issue.