Pilgrim’s Gainesville, Georgia, gains from improvements

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.’s operation in Gainesville successfully pre-treats water and prevents potentially contaminated stormwater from draining into a nearby creek.

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The pre-treatment facility at Pilgrim’s Gainesville handles 1.44 million gallons of wastewater daily generated from the broiler and further processing operation. (Austin Alonzo)
The pre-treatment facility at Pilgrim’s Gainesville handles 1.44 million gallons of wastewater daily generated from the broiler and further processing operation. (Austin Alonzo)

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.'s operation in Gainesville successfully pre-treats water and prevents potentially contaminated stormwater from draining into a nearby creek. 

As part of the 2021 U.S. Poultry & Egg Association’s Clean Water Awards, Tyson’s facility in Berryville, received an honorable mention with distinction award in the pretreatment category.

The pretreatment category covers facilities that discharge pretreated effluent to a publicly owned, full treatment facility for further treatment. To be eligible, a facility must have a minimum of two years in which no significant non-compliances, notices of violations or any other type of enforcement action happened. Judging is based upon training, unique processes utilized for treatment, community outreach, wildlife management, water conservation and general environmental stewardship.

Water pre-treatment

The pre-treatment facility at Pilgrim’s Gainesville handles 1.44 million gallons of wastewater daily generated from the broiler and further processing operation. The plant processes 300,000 birds per day that average at 6.91 pounds. 


Gainsville Ar WorkersFrom left: Stephen James, Reyes Segovia, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Austin Alonzo)

 

Water is treated through a process involving two dissolved air floatation (DAF) units before it is discharged to the city of Gainesville, Georgia. The pre-treatment operation also diverts effluent for reuse in vacuum pumps, screen cleaning and belt washing. 

Reyes Segovia, complex environmental manager for Pilgrim’s Gainesville, said the facility is operating relatively new DAF units and new hardware it added into the existing layout of the plant. The same upgrade added a 150,000 gallon equalization tank, replaced the whitewater system with a superior model and added new chemical storage and containment. 

Stormwater 

Due to state regulations on stormwater run-off enacted in 2012, the facility rebuilt its stormwater system. The project included a new trailer parking lot to ensure proper drainage. The former first flush pump was replaced with an upgraded pumping system and a 600,000 gallon stormwater tank. This project eliminated or redirected stormwater outfalls to wastewater or collection in the stormwater tank, respectively. 

The plant is located next to Flat Creek which drains into nearby Lake Lanier. The lake provides Atlanta most of it's water and is an important resource in northeast Georgia. Reyes said the plant has worked with the activist organization RiverKeeper and now counts the organization as an ally. 

Tyson’s Berryville facility handles challenging job WATTAgNet.com/articles/41505

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