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Grand Island city officials are proposing a $7.5 million upgrade of the city's wastewater treatment plant while simultaneously advising local meatpacking plant, JBS Swift & Co., to reduce its production level.
Both are in reaction to the fifth violation of both the city's wastewater discharge permit and JBS's discharge permit in the last nine months. The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality issued both violations late last week in response to a discharge violation that occurred March 28.
That discharge violation is being blamed for killing more than 10,000 fish in 24 miles of waterways including the city's wastewater plant outfall ditch, the Wood River and Platte River.
Tuesday night the Grand Island City Council will hold a study session to discuss the recent discharge violations and future improvements to the wastewater treatment plant. The study session will immediately follow the council's 7 p.m. regular business meeting.
"We can't continue this way," said Grand Island Mayor Margaret Hornady. "It just isn't healthy. It's not healthy for the city. It's not healthy for the environment. It's not healthy for the river. We can't keep it up. Period. That's all there is to it."
To that end, Hornady issued a sternly worded four-page letter to Swift that ordered a meeting with corporate officials in Greeley, Colo., no later than April 18. The meeting is set to take place at her City Hall office Wednesday morning.
"We're excited the city is interested in working together to find a positive solution to this problem and we're in constant contact with the city and we'll work closely with them going forward," said JBS spokeswoman Tamara Smid.
Overloads begin with Swift
Hornady said every city discharge violation traces back to a discharge violation from Swift. The meatpacker overloads the city system, which then overloads the city's discharges, she said.
While the mayor said she appreciates that Swift had started installation of its own new, larger pretreatment lagoon, the estimated August completion date isn't soon enough.
"Further action must be taken NOW to ensure the city is able to operate it's wastewater treatment plant in compliance with our discharge permit," Hornady wrote in the April 2 letter to JBS Beef Division President David Colwell.
"Due to these extremely high loadings, we may restrict production at the JBS Swift & Co. plant in Grand Island to ensure we can meet the limits in our discharge permit," Hornady's letter continued.
Hornady said restricting the company's production is not a move she takes lightly.
"If it weren't a really serious situation, I wouldn't be considering it, but if they can't control the quality of the effluent, we've got to do something," she said. "It's the last thing I want to do to a company. I know what the implications could be."
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