June 19, 2007

A perfect (smelly) storm
Open house set Thursday to discuss Cherry Growers’ malfunctioning pond

By RODGER NICHOLS
of the Chronicle

     Calling it a “perfect storm” of cascading circumstances, Oregon Cherry Growers, Inc. President and CEO Ed Johnson apologized to the people of The Dalles for the odor caused by problems at one of the company’s three wastewater ponds.
     “We want, in a public way, to apologize for all the impacts this has had on the community,” he said. “We are expending all our efforts and financial resources to abate the problem as soon as possible. We absolutely value our role in the community, and we’re working our heart out here.”
     The problem began June 1, when one of the company’s three wastewater ponds at its downtown plant developed an odor. The company immediately shut down plant operations and notified the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
     “We’ve been in contact with the DEQ since the beginning, prior to any complaints,” Johnson said. “We’ve been updating them on a daily basis since.”
     Johnson and Carl Payne, Vice President for Technical Services for the company, met with The Chronicle Monday to provide background on the situation, and to announce a public open house Thursday, June 21 from 3 to 7 p.m. in the commons at The Dalles Middle School. The company has also put up a website at www.ocgwastewaterupdate.com for public access to the latest developments.
     After trying a half-dozen remedies, the most effective has been the installation last Thursday of an atomizer system around the pond “that disperses natural oils with an emulsifier to grab the odor molecules [and] drop them to the ground where they biodegrade.”
     That’s an expensive short-term solution, costing the company $1,000 a day, according to Johnson.
     A longer-lasting fix involves removing much of the solids at the bottom of the affected pond. The company received a permit Friday from the DEQ that allows them to pump 1.5 million gallons of organic sludge from the bottom of the 2.7-million-gallon pond. The material will be pumped into “completely sealed” tankers to be injected into a DEQ-approved site.
     How did this happen?
     Carl Payne said the ponds receive output from the cherry processing plant containing water, sugars and some fruit pulp. No sewage is involved.
     The material can’t be discharged directly into the river because it contains BODs, environmentalese for compounds that create “biological oxygen demand.”      The point is, they would compete with the fish for oxygen.
     The ponds act as a treatment area, where bacteria convert the sugars into carbon dioxide and water. To help the process, floating aerators add oxygen to the mixture. Dead bacteria also settle to the bottom of the pond.
     Periodically, portions of the sludge are removed, the water is pressed out, and the remaining material sold for animal food.
     The company also has a DEQ permit to discharge a certain amount of the BODs and treated solids into the Columbia.
This time, though, several factors conspired against the normal operation and triggered the odor.
     First, last year’s cherry crop was large in quantity but small in size. “It took us 30 percent longer this year to get them all pitted,” Johnson said.
     Normally, the maraschino operation would be finished by mid-April. During the fresh pack season, only minimal solids would be added to the mixture.
“We don’t really process the fresh pack,” Payne said, “We just wash and cool them.”
     That reduction in output of solids gives the bacteria more time to digest the solids in the pond. But the extra time required to pit last year’s cherries pushed the season far beyond its normal quit time.
     Second, the DEQ last year reduced the quantity of solids the company could discharge by 65 percent, leading to a more rapid buildup.
     Third, the delay extended the maraschino season into the period of high temperature. Heat in this case has a dually bad effect. It increases the activity of the bacteria at the same time it reduces oxygen absorption.
     “Without enough oxygen,” Payne said, “the bacteria’s metabolism changes. They go anerobic. which creates the odor. A healthy pond should have a sweet, or winey odor.”
     The company then started a series of increasingly complex solutions to fix the problem. Here’s what they did:
     • Increased the pH level, making the pond less acidic and more alkaline. That’s the traditional fix, but it didn’t work this time. It actually made the situation worse.
     • Continued aeration to increase oxygen. This aggravated the situation and dispersed even more odor.
     • Added hydrogen peroxide to increase oxygen without agitation. No effect.
     • Contacted the company’s wastewater expert in Portland, who suggested turning off the aerators and broadcasting calcium hypochlorite on the surface of the pond. Turning off the aerators helped; the calcium hypochloride had a minimal effect.
     • Applied orange oil in an attempt to control the odor. Contacted by local resident who developed an allergic reaction. Immediately discontinued orange oil.
     • June 7 - contacted Odor Management, Inc. (OMI). The company builds the atomizer system mentioned at the beginning of the story. The system doesn’t arrive until June 12, and is damaged in transit.
     • June 14 - atomizer up and running, helps reduce the odor.
     • June 15 - on advice of wastewater consultant, began adding magnesium hydroxide, a common and safe water treatment chemical, to help settle the pond.
     • Also June 15 - receive permit from DEQ allowing the removal of 1.5 million gallons of sludge from the affected pond. The contractor will pump from the bottom directly into a “completely sealed” tanker, and the contents will be taken to a DEQ-approved facility for disposal.
     • June 18 - begin pumping operations.
     Where does it go from here?
     The company is reviewing its options for future removal of solids from the ponds, Johnson said, either by purchasing equipment, periodically pumping it out, or a combination of both.
     “We’re celebrating our 75th anniversary this year,” Johnson said. “We plan on staying around for a long, long time, and we want to be a good neighbor.”