Waseca County commissioners last week agreed to modify a permit expanding Birds Eye’s spray fields and improving wastewater treatment, though a private agreement threatened to halt the anticipated increase.
Pinnacle Foods, operating as Birds Eye, made the request earlier this summer, asking to expand spraying of its industrial wastewater to a 109-acre site along Hwy. 14 in Woodville Township adjacent to a site currently used for the same purpose. The wastewater is a byproduct of the Waseca plant’s vegetable packaging processes.
But while Waseca County allows spraying on the site with a conditional use permit, area residents say a private agreement signed in 1952 requires 50 percent of impacted property owners also authorize the requested change.
The request was the subject of two county Planning Commission meetings this summer with discussions centering around whether the county was hemmed in by the private agreement. Ultimately, county Planning and Zoning Director Mark Leiferman said, it was determined that the county was not.
“We really have no dog in this fight,” said Commissioner Mike Hintz, who also sits on the county Planning Commission.
Residents, according to Leiferman, were concerned that the additional water being sprayed on the field would overload the county’s ditch system, create unpleasant odors, attract flies and promote weeds.
The request is part of Birds Eye’s efforts to replace its industrial wastewater treatment system, and is expected to reduce pollutants, odors and protect area waterways. Commissioners in October 2014 approved a permit allowing the company to build a new industrial waste processing facility next to the new spray field. The facility, under construction, is located on about 40 acres of an existing spray field.
The new facility also includes a new lagoon to store industrial wastewater during cold and wet weather when spraying is prohibited. The current lagoon was built in the 1950s, and no longer meets state standards.
According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Birds Eye in Waseca is allowed to treat up to 160 million gallons of industrial wastewater annually on land it owns.
“The treatment process consists of storing the wastewater in ponds and spraying it on adjacent land. As the wastewater filters through the soil, pollutants such as bacteria and nutrients are removed,” according to the MPCA.
The conditional use permit for the site regulates the number of useable acres and cover crop removal, and requires a certified operator supervise all spray irrigation.
Birds Eye representatives at the Board of Commissioners’ Sept. 1 meeting told the board that the company and property owners were working to resolve their disagreements.