Due to the large volumes of water requiring treatment, many food industries are utilizing land application to avoid discharge to surface water. Land application of process and wastewater is typically 50% less expensive than mechanical treatment.

In many cases, CES has found a beneficial use for these materials. Many food processing plants use process waters to irrigate a variety of agricultural crops including forage grasses, grains and hybrid poplars. CES soil scientists design complete process plans coupled with land application recycling of wastewater. These scientists are uniquely qualified for land application projects because of our knowledge and experience with soil-waste interactions and vegetation management alternatives. CES' land application project list exceeds 500 over the past 10 years.

The EPA and individual states regulate the industry discharge of excess wastewater to surface waters through the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. CES personnel have an on-going involvement with regulatory agency technical committees for wastewater land application. As a result, we have a complete understanding of the most current direction in regulatory policy.

Click here to see examples of CES' Food Processing projects...