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Allen Harim's Harbeson plant meets state-permitted nitrogen levels

Katie Peikes
/
Delaware Public Media
Allen Harim currently discharges treated wastewater into Beaverdam Creek. They will stop once Artesian Resources builds a wastewater storage facility north of Milton.

Poultry company Allen Harim says wastewater from its Harbeson processing plant has been fully compliant with discharge requirements in the year since upgrades were made there.

In a statement, Allen Harim President and CEO Joe Moran praised the plant’s compliance. The company said its recent wastewater record was worth the $8 million investment it made to upgrade the treatment plant in late 2016.

 

“This is proof that our investment has been worth it and I’m so proud of our team for their hard work in ensuring a perfect record,” Moran said. “Our next step of removing our treated effluent from Beaver Dam Creek and piping it to Artesian for land application will be an even better environmental outcome.”

 

According to Allen Harim’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, the company was permitted a maximum concentration of 34 milligrams per Liter of Total Nitrogen. They averaged a daily amount of 28 mg/L.

 

But news Allen Harim has met wastewater requirements for nitrogen and ammonia is not easing concerns of some nearby residents, regarding their future planned wastewater disposal method to pipe treated wastewater to an Artesian-owned facility.

 

Artesian Water Resources is building a wastewater storage facility north of Milton that will accept Allen Harim’s treated wastewater and spray it onto fields in and around the Milton community. Some of the nutrients found in the water, including nitrogen and ammonia, have worried residents for a while. Recent news about groundwater pollution in the Millsboro area has them worried about the consequences of spray irrigation, based on some of the high levels of nutrients already present in Sussex soil.

 

Andrea Green, the co-founder of the grassroots group “Keep Our Wells Clean”, says many of her Milton-area neighbors’ wells are already contaminated from a nearby septic operation called “Clean Delaware”. They’re worried about how the new storage and spray disposal method so close to their homes could affect their wells.

 

Green says she’s not completely reassured by Allen Harim achieving 100 compliance with its Harbeson plant.

 

“Several individuals in my neighborhood and surrounding areas already have nitrates to the extent that their water is not usable, and that’s before these spray fields come online,” Green said.

 

When Green bought her home in 2012, nitrates in her well came back at 9.5 milligrams per Liter, she said. 

 

Anything over 10 mg/L is not safe to drink, according to the National Drinking Water Standard set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

 

Allen Harim did not respond to a request for further comment.

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