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Neighbors are worried about how the day-to-day operations at a tow yard in Seffner could impact their drinking water.
"We can't live without clean water," homeowner Michele Miles said.
Last year, she learned the owner of a nearby business is expanding its footprint. Miles is afraid this could put a precious natural resource at risk in the Pemberton Creek Watershed.
"That junkyard, that automotive salvage, has been operating for over a decade on agricultural property," Miles told 10 Investigates.
2024 inspection reports from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, or SWFWMD, show a company called American and Import Auto Parts has been storing cars and clearing land without the right permit.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has also taken notice, saying in a 2022 report that motor oil from vehicles was a "widespread issue in this area." Another DEP report noted that "sampling results have exceeded the cut-off concentrations for pollutants."
"He's not properly zoned to accept all of these cars, and they're going on soil where there's wells right next to it," Miles said. "There are a hundred, almost a hundred wells, in just this small area."
10 Investigates spoke to owner Mark Kara by phone this week. He declined to do an interview and said he is in compliance with DEP’s standards before hanging up. But, he has been more responsive to the state, saying to DEP in a 2022 email that the company was "a little embarrassed" during one of the inspections, and that workers have been "extensively cleaning the facility."