18 CapitalPress.com
February 20, 2015
Winery waste water regs raise concerns
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
KENNEWICK, Wash. —
Winery owners are concerned
about the state Department of
Ecology’s plan to regulate waste
water discharged by wineries.
Costs and the scope of regu-
lation could put some wineries
out of business, winery owners
told DOE officials at a session
on the subject at the annual
meeting of the Washington As-
sociation of Wine Grape Grow-
ers at the Three Rivers Conven-
tion Center in Kennewick, Feb.
10.
Bill Moore and Chelsea Des-
forges, DOE water quality spe-
cialists, said that is not DOE’s
intent, but that the agency is
concerned about protecting sur-
face and ground water because
of a proliferation of wineries,
mostly in Eastern and Central
Washington. California and Or-
egon have regulations, they said.
Washington wineries have
largely done a good job of man-
aging waste water but there is
potential for problems, they
said. They talked about prelim-
inary permit plans, answered
questioned and listened to win-
eries’ concerns.
Thirteen of the state’s larger
wineries have individual waste
water discharge permits, each
tailored to their operations, Des-
forges said. DOE wants to draft
a general permit for smaller
wineries, she said.
DOE is concerned with loss
of oxygen in surface water from
the amount of oxygen needed
to break down waste water that
includes cleaning agents, grape
juice and organic sediment from
the washing of tanks, crush
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Bill Moore, Washington Department of Ecology water quality
specialist, listens to John Morgan, owner of Lost River Winery,
Mazama, following a session on proposed winery waste water
regulations at the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers
annual meeting in Kennewick, Feb. 10.
pads, barrels and winery floors.
Loss of oxygen in streams puts
aquatic life at risk, she said.
There’s also potential for
contamination of ground water,
the source of much drinking
water, if too much untreated
waste water is used in irriga-
tion, leaks from unlined evap-
oration lagoons or comes from
failing septic systems, Desforg-
es said.
Stuart Childs, senior scientist
of Kennedy/Jenks Consultants,
a Portland engineering firm,
said small wineries sometimes
run their waste water through
domestic septic systems but that
those systems aren’t designed
for heavy loads from grape
crush and usually end up failing.
Larger system are built just for
wineries, he said.
“A really good winery pro-
duces two gallons of waste wa-
ter per gallon of wine. But six
is more common and so is 10,”
Childs said.
A 10-ton crush produces
3,000 to 15,000 gallons of waste
water, he said.
The state produces about 20
million gallons of wine annually
and, at an average of six gallons
of waste water per gallon of
wine, that’s 120 million gallons
of waste water.
Irrigation, winery septic sys-
tems, evaporation lagoons and
use of publicly owned treatment
plants are all options, Desforges
said. A double-lined evaporation
pond with leak detection would
be exempt from a permit, Moore
said.
John Morgan, owner of
Lost River Winery in Mazama,
voiced concerns and asked for
help, saying he has two systems
and needs to install a third.
One winery owner said DOE
needs to learn more since some
small wineries do all their crush
at once to minimize cleaning
and do different things in differ-
ent locations.
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SPOKANE — Eastern Washington FFA students
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