NC0026441_SOC Comment (Connie Allred)_20230323

March 23, 2023
VIA Email
N.C. Division of Water Resources
Attn: Sydney Carpenter,
Compliance and Expedited Unit, 1617
Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C.
27699-1617
sydney.carpenter(a)ncdenr.gov
Re: Siler City SOC
Ms. Carpenter,
I am a land owner along the Rocky River in Chatham County living below the Siler City Wastewater
Treatment Plant (WWTP) discharge. I have monitored water quality issues in the Rocky River
watershed for a number of years. I am especially concerned about the decline in water quality in the
river since 2019 when Mountaire Farms started discharging their inadequately treated waste to the
Siler City WWTP. In May of 2022, after years of numerous, unaddressed pretreatment permit
violations by Mountaire resulting in repeated NPDES permit violations at the WWTP leading to
chronic, damaging pass through pollution into the already impaired Loves Creek and Rocky River. NC
DEQ finally placed Siler City under a Statutory Moratorium. For the following reasons I am requesting
that the current Statutory Moratorium remain in place and that the proposed Special Order by
Consent (SOC) for the Siler City WWTP be denied for the following reason.
The Town of Siler City and the Mountaire poultry processing plant have not met the requirements for
an SOC.
A September 22, 2022 letter from NC DEQ to Siler City concerning the SOC stated:
"Mountaire Compliance: The Division requests that Mountaire be put under a
compliance schedule or a consent order and provide a timeline for when that will
be enacted. Mountaire must identify the causes of the non- compliance and
provide to the Town and the Division a list of actions that they will take to address
the identified issues, with a firm timeline. Additionally, the Division requests a
firm timeline, which does not exceed the timeline provided in the issued permit,
for when the Town will be undertaking the interim actions for Mountaire's
compliance as stated in the application, including for the proposed pretreatment
permit modification."
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According to available public records, none of these requirements have been met. As a matter of fact,
a September 08, 2022 letter from Siler City to Mountaire which was included in their 2022 Annual
Pretreatment Report stated that:
"For the first six month reporting period of 2022, Mountaire Farms Inc. is in
significant non-compliance (SNC). In accordance with the Town of Siler City Sewer
Use Ordinance and the Town's Enforcement Response Plan (ERP), the Town of
Siler City hereby issues Mountaire Farms, Inc. a Notice of Violation(NOV) as
described below:
1. SNC NOV for Pass through at the waste water treatment plant, stemmed
from high BOD discharges coming from your pretreatment unit."
Even more concerning is the last paragraph of this same letter which states:
"To support you in preventing a second SNC violation, The Town hereby issues you
a temporary suspension of the weekly flow average located in Mountaire's
Pretreatment permit IUP 004, Part 1 F (1) foot note 2 noted below, for the second
six-month reporting period of 2022."
This statement implies that, rather than requiring Mountaire to stop violating their pretreatment permit
as required by law, the Town of Siler City thought it preferable to accommodate the polluter by
temporarily altering Mountaire's pretreatment permit to make it merely appear that they were in
compliance during the second six month reporting period of 2022. This action seems to be a serious
violation of the Clean Water Act.
Despite this manipulation of the permit, testing by Siler City of Mountaire's discharge for the second
half of 2022, which was documented in the 2022 Annual Pretreatment Report, showed that Mountaire
was in violation of their daily limits for BOD 67 times in addition to numerous violations of their weekly
ammonia limit during this period. These violations led to at least two pass through violations and
Notices of Violations (NOVs) at the WWTP for exceeding their NPDES permit limits for BOD and
Ammonia during the months of July and August 2022.
According to letters from Mountaire to the Town of Siler City, which were included in Siler City's 2022
Annual Pretreatment Report, Mountaire has pursued some fairly minor changes to their pretreatment
units. Unfortunately, to date, none of the changes have resulted in compliance with their
pretreatment permit limits.
In addition, there doesn't seem to be any firm timeline for compliance as requested by NC DEQ. As a
matter of fact, the letters from Mountaire to Siler City actually suggest a very indefinite timeline for
upgrades to Mountaire's pretreatment units that might possibly lead to compliance.
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A September 08, 2022 letter stated:
"Mountaire has met with a construction company and an engineer to discuss
upgrades to the current wastewater system. The focus of these discussions will be
to improve water quality by reducing BOD. These discussions are in the
preliminary phase. Plans for the future will involve design and construction which
will be a multi year project."
A November 04, 2022 letter stated:
"Mountaire's long-term plans include construction of a wastewater upgrade to
include a new equalization tank, MBBR tanks for BOD and ammonia removal and
equipment buildings. The upgrade is currently in the design phase."
So obviously, after many years of pretreatment violations that have led to more than 90 violations of
the Siler City WWTP NPDES permit limits, as well as numerous NOVs and many incidences of
violations of the Clean Water Act due to Mountaire's inadequately treated waste passing through the
WWTP into the already impaired Loves Creek and Rocky River, Mountaire is in no hurry to achieve
compliance with their pretreatment permit limits.
Based on Siler City's questionable track record at being able and willing to enforce their Sewer Use
Ordinance and the pretreatment permits for their Significant Industrial Users, as well as Mountaire's
reluctance to take the steps necessary to achieve compliance with their pretreatment permit limits,
the current Statutory Moratorium should remain in place.
In addition, NC DEQ needs to step in and take over monitoring and enforcement of Mountaire's
pretreatment permit while immediately requiring that Mountaire stop violating the Clean Water Act by
using the Siler City WWTP as a conduit to pass its inadequately treated waste to the already impaired
Loves Creek and Rocky River, even if it means limiting the amount of waste that Mountaire is allowed
to discharge to the WWTP.
An SOC for the Town of Siler City should not even be considered until Mountaire stops causing pass
through pollution to Loves Creek and the Rocky River, in addition to achieving compliance with their
pretreatment permit limits for at least two consecutive six month reporting cycles.
Thank you,
Connie Allred
4908 Pleasant Hill Church Rd.
Siler City, NC 27344
Cc: Rocky River Watch / SELC
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