HARBESON — Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced Tuesday the signing of a conciliation order with Allen Harim Foods LLC that requires the poultry-processing company to take actions protective of human health and the environment at its Millsboro and Harbeson facilities.

According to the order, Allen Harim is required to perform wastewater-reduction actions; investigate and install stormwater improvements; and terminate stream discharge for wastewater-disposal purposes at both plants.

Additionally, the order resolves past effluent violations at the Harbeson facility and requires cleanout and repurposing of an old anaerobic lagoon as a diversion area for noncompliant wastewater prior to retreatment and disposal.

According to DNREC, this conciliation agreement is the result of negotiations between the parties to address the following alleged violations:

• Lack of progress terminating the stream discharge from Allen Harim’s Millsboro facility. Allen Harim committed to eliminating the stream discharge by June 2020. To date, no wastewater-disposal permit application has been submitted.
• Lack of progress implementing anaerobic lagoon cleanout activities at the Harbeson location.
• Increases in wastewater production at the Harbeson facility prior to the pandemic. This increase is inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the draft operations permit for on-site wastewater treatment currently under review.
• Recent compliance issues observed at the Harbeson plant, including effluent violations.

According to DNREC, the parties have negotiated in good faith and “are desirous of seeking an amicable resolution of the issues to avoid the expense, burden, inconvenience and uncertainty of administrative proceedings or litigation.”

Beyond those requirements, Allen Harim agrees to pay a penalty of $150,340 and will be subject to stipulated penalties by the department for noncompliance with any corrective provisions of the order, according to DNREC.

The second action taken by DNREC concerning Allen Harim on Tuesday involves the issuance of an on-site wastewater-treatment and disposal operations permit for the company’s Harbeson facility. The permit allows the company to perform on-site treatment of poultry-processing wastewater and subsequently to transfer treated effluent to Artesian’s Northern Sussex Regional Recharge Facility for disposal via spray irrigation.

The operations permit requires that Allen Harim implement the same high level of treatment that would be required for spray disposal at golf courses or state parks. It also requires the facility to divert noncompliant wastewater on-site for retreatment, if needed.

The conciliation order between DNREC and Allen Harim can be found here.

A copy of the operations permit can be found at the DNREC Groundwater Discharges Section webpage here.