Perdue given $77,000 penalty for wastewater violations

Perdue Foods has been issued a penalty of $77,300 after state officials say the poultry facility exceeded its effluent amount adding nutrients and bacteria to area waterways.

Shawn M. Garvin, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, issued a Conciliation Order by Consent to Perdue Foods for multiple violations of the company’s national Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, said Michael Globetti, spokesman for DNREC.

Garvin said from May to July 2015 Persue Foods exceeded effluent limits at its Georgetown facility, which discharges from the treatment plant to Savannah Ditch. Violations included noncompliance with concentration and/or loading limits for ammonia, total nitrogen and enterococcus bacteria.

Effluent violations from the facility added excess volumes of pollutants in the form of nutrients and potentially harmful bacteria to the state’s surface waters, and contributed to the impairment of the state’s waterways, Globetti said. 

Perdue took steps to enhance its treatment capability and address the immediate issue of the nutrient-rich effluent, while also working to address the source of the issue. Action taken by the company helped limit the duration and extent of the upset, Globetti said.

Perdue has not been in violation of these parameters since then, he said.

To offset a portion of the penalty from DNREC, Globetti said, Perdue has chosen to perform an Environmental Improvement Project in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy, for which the company will convert 39 acres of farmland into forest. This will significantly reduce the loads of nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants going into the Broadkill River from the property to be converted.

The penalty order can be found on the DNREC website at http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/Info/Pages/SecOrders.aspx.