Complying with environmental rules for produce wash water can be costly and time-consuming

Monday, February 20, 2012

It took one grower three years and $20,000-$25,000, but the ministry says it is trying to streamline the process

by SUSAN MANN

The growers at Downey Potato Farms didn't wait for Environment Ministry officials to come calling before installing measures for handling produce wash water.

Trevor Downey, vice-president of sales and marketing, says they built the system two years ago partly to recycle the daily water use on the Shelburne-area farm, meet food safety and their own Environmental Farm Plan requirements, and get ahead of the environment ministry's rules. They recycle up to 70 per cent of the water they use daily.

Leif Smith, Downey's plant manager, says their daily water consumption is 11,350 litres but, without the system, they'd be using 34,050 litres. They're washing a minimum of one million pounds of potatoes each week which are subsequently distributed to major Ontario retailers and restaurants.

Smith says their system includes a 64-by-64-foot cement tank that's 10 feet deep and divided into four equal compartments each holding 227,000 litres of water. After the potatoes are washed, the water goes into the first tank, which is used to settle the dirt and organic matter. The water naturally flows through all four tanks and is either returned to the wash line or released back on to the land. While it's in the tanks, the water is aerated and treated with a natural organic block imported from Japan that releases a microorganism to eat the organic matter.

Not all farmers have systems in place to handle produce wash water, but the ministry requires everyone discharging more than 10,000 litres a day to get an Environmental Compliance Approval, formerly called a Certificate of Approval. To get that approval, farmers must have a professional engineer or qualified consultant design their sewage system, which includes storm water and wash water handling.

Getting the certificate is expensive. Art Smith, CEO of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, says the minimum amount to apply is $5,200. That covers the application cost and "for someone to read the engineer's report."

It cost Albert Streef of  Streef Produce Ltd. $20,000 to $25,000 and it took three years to get his certificate. He washes potatoes and snap beans on his 2,800-acre farm, located on various parcels of land from Princeton to Otterville in southwestern Ontario.

The costs include the application and consultants' fees plus the actual management system that's acceptable to the ministry. "You need to feed the water into the lagoon at one end of it and the water's got to flow down through," he says, adding that there has to be a dam at the other end to regulate outflow. Maintenance records are also required.

Environment Ministry spokesperson Kate Jordan says the ministry has been working on a province-wide strategy with horticulture and greenhouse groups, plus the agriculture ministry, to improve farmers' environmental practices for wash and storm water management. The environment ministry meets regularly with the sector to explain its compliance approach and outline its requirements so "growers have a consistent understanding of regulations and the best way to protect the environment."

There haven't been any changes to environmental standards or compliance requirements, she says. Instead, the ministry introduced a streamlined approval process as of Oct. 31, 2011, to make it more efficient and flexible.

"What we've seen is we need to work closely with the sector, so there's a greater understanding of what our requirements are and what they (farmers) need to do to come into compliance with them," she says.

The storm water management requirements affect mainly greenhouse growers. Jordan says the ministry wants to ensure growers aren't discharging any materials directly into the environment that could cause "any type of adverse effect."

Some studies have shown there have been impacts to local waterways from greenhouse storm water, she explains, noting that the ministry is also working to ensure farmers washing produce discharge water in a way that will be safe for the surrounding environment.

In addition to talking with grower groups, the ministry will lay charges against farmers who don't comply with the rules. On May 20, 2011, Cericola Farms Limited was charged with 10 alleged offences under the Ontario Water Resources Act related to discharging material that may impair water quality, Jordan says.

On July 21, 2011, Pier 27 Produce (2008) Inc. was charged with discharging wash water into a watercourse that may impair water quality and operating a sewage works without a Certificate of Approval.

The fruit and vegetable growers association questions the need for farmers to get the certificate. In late 2011, Art Smith says, it wrote to Environment Minister Jim Bradley asking for a moratorium "until it can be shown scientifically that there's some kind of damage being done to the environment" or regulations under the Nutrient Management Act can be drafted for horticultural farmers. Copies of the letter were also sent to the agriculture minister and premier.

The association says horticulture should be under the Nutrient Management Act and regulations for the sector should come from that Act rather than the environment ministry.

The environment ministry is looking at both vegetable wash water and rainwater coming off greenhouses as industrial waste, Smith says, which they're not.

Smith says farmers have to wash vegetables because customers don't want soil clinging to them. The water they use, which just contains a bit of soil, is returned to the land through irrigation, a common agricultural practice that has been used for decades. BF