10/01/02

The Environmental Protection Agency last week cited Perdue Farms Inc., for water pollution violations at Perdue’s poultry processing and rendering plants in Accomac, Va.
The EPA compliance order, which resulted from a joint investigation by EPA and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), cites Perdue for violations of ammonia effluent limits, inadequate maintenance and operation of its wastewater treatment plant, and failure to properly notify DEQ about the discharge, bypass and physical changes at the plant. The order also requires Perdue to monitor wastewater, prevent unpermitted discharges and promptly report violations.
John Chlada, Salisbury, Md.-based Perdue’s environmental expert, said he “takes strong exception with EPA’s statements.” Particularly, he said, Perdue has been working on repairing problems at the 30-year-old plant.
And, he said the company has been working with the state DEQ, and then EPA, to address the concerns. “It’s been a cooperative effort on our part,” Chlada said.
He said it is an involved process to deal with the equipment problems at the plant. “They’re not things you simply pull off a shelf,” he said.
Donald Welsch of the EPA’s Mid-Atlantic region said, “EPA will continue to work closely with Virginia to ensure that this plant complies fully with federal and state regulations designed to protect Virginia’s waterways and public health.”
Under a Clean Water Act permit issued by the Virginia DEQ, Perdue is authorized to discharge treated wastewater into Parker Creek, a waterway emptying into Metompkin Bay. The permit sets monitoring levels and requires Perdue to treat wastewater prior to discharge so that pollution does not exceed specified levels, called effluent limits. The effluent limits are designed to protect the water quality of Parker Creek, which EPA and Virginia have identified as an impaired waterway.
Perdue exceeded effluent limits for ammonia on numerous occasions this summer, reportedly due to improperly operated and maintained treatment equipment, the EPA stated in a press release. Perdue’s monitoring reports showed ammonia levels up to 30 times the permitted value. Last year, DEQ assessed a $20,000 penalty against Perdue for similar ammonia effluent violations occurring in 2000.
To prevent further violations, the company diverted the wastewater discharge to a holding pond, and stopped the flow to Parker Creek. Over Labor Day weekend — a period of significant rainfall — the capacity of the storage pond became filled and partially-treated wastewater was released from the wastewater treatment plant to Parker Creek. The release occurred for nearly 30 hours, of which half of that time was unmonitored. The monitored portion of the release indicated high levels of ammonia and suspended solids.
In an Aug. 28, inspection, EPA and DEQ said that Perdue was “running out of storage capacity in its holding pond, yet was still in full-production mode.”
At that time, the EPA inspector directed the company to take measures to prevent a discharge in violation of its permit
The EPA order requires Perdue to:
• Collect visual and representative water quality monitoring data for all wastewater discharged to Parker Creek;
• Notify EPA and DEQ of instances of non-compliance immediately;
• Provide information as to the causes of non-compliance, actions necessary to be taken for Perdue to return to compliance, and the cost associated with those actions;
• Ensure adequate volume in the ponds that are holding partially-treated effluent;
• Prevent unauthorized discharges from a stormwater pond; and
• Notify DEQ of all physical alterations and additions made at the facility.