Mountaire Farms has been granted a permit from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) to store sludge at its poultry processing complex in the Millsboro community.
With the permit, Mountaire hopes to resolve some of the environmental concerns related to its poultry operations in Millsboro.
DNREC earlier cited Mountaire with wastewater treatment violations that included not following the criteria of the permit to treat and spray irrigate reclaimed wastewater onto nearby agricultural farmland. DNREC reported that elevated nitrate levels were found, eventually affecting private water wells in homes near the plant. DNREC Environmental Scientist Brian Churchill had earlier said the sludge was a factor, and in order to remove it from the current lagoons it needs to be dried and transported to a landfill.
In a press release sent to WATT Global Media on April 6, Mountaire stated that it had been issued the permit on March 30. The permit will allow Mountaire to more quickly remove solids from its wastewater system, and store those solids in a temporary onsite lagoon, prior to being permanently disposed of off-site.
According to DNREC, a public hearing was held prior to the issuing of the permit. About 65 people were in attendance. While some citizens spoke out in opposition to permit approval, DNREC’s Surface Water Discharges Section (SWDS) division team concluded that the permit should be granted because it satisfied DNREC regulatory requirements for sludge storage, and that sludge storage is “necessary to improve the efficiency of Mountaire’s Millsboro [wastewater treatment plant] and ultimately improve the quality of spray irrigated wastewater.
Mountaire stated that expediting the removal of such solids from its wastewater system is part of the company’s interim corrective action plan, which is now underway.
The company also reported that it has returned to compliance with its spray irrigation fields in terms of total suspended solids, biological oxygen demand, fecal coliform numbers and total nitrogen levels.
New wastewater treatment facility
Mountaire, in the same press release, announced that another phase of the corrective action plan is the engineering and construction of a new wastewater treatment facility, an investment valued at more than $35 million.
The company has a goal of finalizing the wastewater treatment plant design in May. Once the plan is finalized, Mountaire will start seeking bids for the project in August, with hopes of construction beginning in October.
