City approves annual discharge permit for processor Fry Foods

The Weiser City Council approved the annual discharge permit for food processor Fry Foods without any major changes earlier month.
 The permit specifies the limits on what Fry Food can discharge from its onion ring processing plant on East Sixth Street into the city’s wastewater treatment system. The permit is taken up annually for discussion and renewal by the city council.
 City council member Randy Hibberd, who sits on the city committee that meets with Fry Foods officials to go over the permit, said both the city and company officials were in agreement on all five topics covered in the meetings.
 The city has also asked Fry Foods to clean up the area around the company’s property on East Sixth Street, although that is not related to the terms of the discharge permit. There is some old machinery and equipment at the site.
 “They have committed to get that cleaned up by the first of the year,” Hibberd said.
 With the new Ridley’s grocery store open nearby on 6th Street, that part of the city is expected to see more commercial growth in the future. It is also the gateway to the city on U.S. Highway 95 for traffic coming from the north.
 Plant manager Dave Durkin said it has taken a while to get the exterior property cleaned up and the effort is ongoing. Some of what is on the property is junk that will be hauled off and some is useable equipment.
 He said the company plans to build a fence around the perimeter and will get started on the project this year.
 “We’ll start from the corner and build it incrementally so that nobody from the roadway will see it,” he said.
 Wastewater treatment plant supervisor Lonnie Chambers said the company has significantly cleaned up what it discharges to the city wastewater system. Although the company is using more water, it is sending cleaner water to the sewer plant that is easier to treat.
 Fry Foods discharges from the back of the processing plant into a sewer line that runs down East 4th Street. Due to its age, the concrete sewer line is showing wear and is scheduled to be replaced during the current fiscal year, Chambers said.
 “We’ve kind of got a ballpark figure of what it is going to cost,” Chambers said. “In February, we’re going to start working on bids and try to get a game plan together.”
 Chambers said Fry Foods spent a lot of money this year to install a widely used DAFT (dissolved air flotation thickener) system that reduces the BOD and TSS effluent from the plant that goes into the city wastewater collection system.
 “They have cleaned it up tremendously,” he said.
 The DAF water treatment process clarifies wastewater by removing suspended solids. The removal is achieved by dissolving air in the water or wastewater under pressure and then releasing the air at atmospheric pressure in a flotation tank. The released air forms tiny bubbles which adhere to the suspended matter causing the suspended matter to float to the surface of the water where it is then removed by a skimming device.
 Mayor Diana Thomas said she has appreciated how the relationship between the city and Fry Foods has improved over the past eight years that she has been mayor. The tenor in discussions between city officials and company officials has changed for the positive.
 “I really do appreciate that,” she said.
 Fry Foods has operated the Weiser onion-ring manufacturing facility since 2006. There are more than 200 people employed at the plant. The company, which is headquartered in Ohio, opened a second food-processing plant near Ontario, Ore., after purchasing the old Select Onion property.