New York Beer Company Commits Waste Violations

In Ithaca, N.Y., local government is putting out a notice of noncompliance. 

According to the Ithaca Times, these violations are related to wastewater discharge from Ithaca Beer Company brewing facility in the Town of Ithaca. The facility was instructed to cure extreme pH problems it was having at its facility that were being detected at the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility (IAWWTF) but failed to comply.

On Sept. 24, 2018, IAWWTF Chief Operator Carl Kilgore followed with another compliance order accompanied by a notice of violation to Ithaca Beer stated that the company had not met the schedule and had not notified the town soon enough. According to Kilgore, the directives the company had not violated had to do with the pretreatment system plan and construction.

The chair of the IAWWTF Special Joint Committee, Cynthia Brock, said a significant non-compliance notification was issued as required by the Environment Protection Agency.

“They have met the criteria for significant non-compliance in three ways,” Brock said to the Ithaca Times. “Their effluent discharge is below 2.0 and above 12.5 on the pH scale, which poses an eminent endangerment to sewer workers and infrastructure. Two, they failed to provide required notification of non-compliance with effluent limits and failed to provide required progress reports on meeting compliance order milestone deadlines. And three, their continuing periodic discharges of highly acidic effluent will adversely affect the collection system and continue to be a danger to sewer workers.”

Brock is glad to see the pretreatment system plans being reviewed. However, she and the rest of the committee are tired of making the same requests of the company only to have their requirement met while the violations continue.

“Obviously, we are incredibly frustrated,” Brock said to the Ithaca Times. “There’s no evidence that Ithaca Beer is responding to our requests with the urgency that I believe is due.”

According to the Ithaca Times, the beer company has submitted their plans to construct and install a pretreatment system that should stop the pH violations as well as high temperatures of discharges.

Dan Mitchell, Ithaca Beer Company owner, said the new pretreatment plant will end up costing the company around $300,000. Part of the delay between the violations and the company’s solution was the initial price they found looking into it.