COMANCO Tackles Complex Phosphate Gypsum Pond Closure in Central Florida
Phosphate gypsum pond closure is rarely as simple as installing a liner and covering the surface. Successful closure depends on several systems working together, often across a large, changing construction site.
On a current phosphate project in Central Florida, part of Central Florida’s phosphate mining industry, COMANCO is closing four pond areas within an active gypsum stack system. The work combines earthwork and multiple geosynthetics, including geomembrane, geocomposite, high-strength geotextile, HDPE piping, aggregates, grassing, and erosion protection.
The scale alone requires careful coordination. However, one pond presented an additional challenge. Crews needed to install high-strength geotextile across the entire pond under difficult field conditions.
Completing that operation required more than equipment and personnel. It required planning, specialized training, and a field-developed installation approach.
Managing a Complex Phosphate Gypsum Pond Closure Project
A phosphate gypsum pond closure uses multiple engineered components to create a stable containment and water management system.
Geomembrane provides a low-permeability barrier. Geocomposite materials can provide drainage and gas venting pathways. HDPE piping manages water movement throughout the system. Aggregates, vegetation, and erosion protection help stabilize and protect completed areas.
The challenge is that these components must function as a single integrated system rather than separate construction scopes.
Each layer affects the work that follows. Surface preparation can affect liner installation. Liner placement influences subsequent drainage components. Material deployment must also account for traffic, equipment access, weather, and previously completed work.
Experienced environmental contractors plan around these interfaces before crews reach them in the field.
Coordinating Four Pond Areas at Different Stages
COMANCO’s Central Florida project includes three active pond closures and one completed area.
At the New Gyp Stack-South, crews have completed the 60-mil geomembrane and storm drain geocomposite installation. The concrete weir and stormwater piping system are also complete. Gravel toe drain and fabric form installation continues.
Work at the New Gyp Stack-North is progressing through several layers. The team has installed about 86% of the 60-mil geomembrane. Crews have also completed about 85% of the 200-mil gas venting geocomposite. Installation of the 300-mil storm drain geocomposite continues alongside gravel toe drain construction.
The Lined Process Water Sump has reached a major milestone. Both the geomembrane and GeoCell installation are complete.
Materials include 60-mil geomembrane and geocomposites supplied by AGRU America. ISCO Industries supplies HDPE piping for the project.
Managing these areas simultaneously requires close coordination between project management and field personnel. Material deliveries, equipment, crews, and construction sequencing must align with the conditions in each pond.
Solving an Unusual High-Strength Geotextile Installation
The Old Gyp Stack-North presented one of the project’s most unusual field challenges.
Crews needed to pull high-strength geotextile across the entire pond and anchor it. The site conditions made a conventional installation approach impractical.
Instead of forcing a standard method to fit the situation, the team evaluated the conditions in the field. They developed an installation sequence around the pond’s actual constraints.
That meant coordinating equipment movement, material handling, personnel, and anchoring as one operation. Safety remained central to each step.
Crews successfully pulled the high-strength geotextile across the pond and secured it. Sand deployment could then begin over the installed material.
The operation highlights a reality familiar to experienced contractors. Engineered plans define what must be constructed, but successful execution also depends on solving the conditions encountered in the field.
Specialty Equipment Requires Job-Specific Training
The OGS-N work also required specialty equipment that employees do not encounter on every project.
COMANCO coordinated with equipment vendors to provide on-site training for employees using those machines. Instead of separating training from the work environment, employees learned with the equipment they would operate on the project.
That approach gave employees hands-on experience before production depended on unfamiliar machinery.
Job-specific equipment training can improve consistency and help operators recognize equipment limitations. It also reduces uncertainty when crews begin complex operations.
For environmental construction, this preparation is especially valuable. A mistake can affect previously installed materials or disrupt the sequence of several following activities.
Quality Starts at the Interfaces
Large closure projects are often measured by quantities installed. Long-term performance, however, depends heavily on what happens where materials and construction phases meet.
A geomembrane installation must account for penetrations, terminations, drainage components, and adjoining systems. Geocomposite placement must protect both the underlying material and its intended drainage function. Heavy equipment operations must avoid damaging completed geosynthetic work.
These interfaces require communication between field supervision, project management, quality personnel, and equipment operators.
COMANCO approaches the work as a connected system rather than a collection of individual installation quantities. Crews plan each phase with the next operation in mind.
That systems-based approach becomes even more critical when multiple pond areas are progressing through different construction stages simultaneously.
Building a Closure System for Long-Term Performance
Phosphate gypsum pond closure ultimately has a much longer purpose than the construction schedule.
A properly constructed closure system helps contain gypsum materials and manage water across the site. In Central Florida’s phosphate mining industry, these systems support long-term environmental protection and responsible water management.
Getting there requires attention to detail that may eventually disappear beneath the finished closure.
The high-strength geotextile at OGS-N is one example. Crews encountered conditions that required a different approach, developed a workable solution, and completed the installation safely. Specialized training then helped prepare employees for the equipment needed to continue the work.
That is where field experience matters most.
Environmental construction does not always provide textbook conditions. Contractors must understand the design, recognize field constraints, and develop practical solutions without compromising safety or quality.
Projects like this demonstrate the level of planning, technical expertise, and field adaptability required for phosphate gypsum pond closure and other environmental construction projects throughout Florida.
When every layer has a purpose, every layer has to be installed with the completed system in mind.
SAFETY ★ QUALITY ★ SERVICE
COMANCO is an environmental, commercial, and civil construction company specializing in constructing containment facilities.
Complex phosphate closure projects require careful coordination between geosynthetics, earthwork, drainage systems, and field operations. COMANCO brings decades of environmental construction experience to containment projects where safety, quality, and long-term performance matter. Contact COMANCO to discuss your next phosphate closure or environmental construction project.
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