Mountaire: Well needed to save business

Mountaire Farms didn't dig its own well in Frankford to cut costs or avoid paying the town, said Michael Tirrell, a company vice president.

They did it, he said, to stay in operation.

“The water had particles such as rust in it,” he said. “It was clogging up our feed mill. We have a business to run, and we cannot shut down several times an hour, which was happening.”

Without the new well, "we would have had a business that couldn't run," he said.

Last week, town council wrote an open letter to other municipal officials throughout the state, urging them to join the small, central Sussex County town in seeking legislation that would limit future well-drilling permits in municipal water service areas.

State environmental secretary David Small said his agency had no choice but to grant a well permit for non-potable water to Mountaire when the company's well driller applied last year. Small said the law required it.

Town officials said last week that they learned about the well when they noticed water usage drop dramatically.

The company had been spending about $75,000 annually to purchase water from Frankford, about one-third of municipal water usage. Losing the revenue is a heavy blow to the small town.

Its officials have challenged DNREC's decision with the state Environmental Appeals Board.

The state, the town and Mountaire, along with state lawmakers who represent the area, have had several discussions over what can be done.

TIrrell said the company is still buying some water from the town – potable water that is used for sinks and toilets in their facility. He said in earlier discussions, the company offered to pay the town $1,000 a month over the next 10 years to help offset the loss of revenue. Tirrell said town officials rejected that offer.

State environmental officials have been working with the town to restructure loans that were taken out to upgrade and improve the drinking water system.

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The system, which in the past had high iron levels and failed to meet some state and federal water quality standards, has been in compliance with state and federal standards for several years, said Ed Hallock, manager of the state office of drinking water quality.

No one is sure why the particle problem surfaced. Tirrell said the feed mill, where the company processes grain into poultry feed, had been able to run its operations with no significant issues until about two years ago. Mountaire has been making feed in Frankford since 1988.

Water is used to run the boilers that make the feed, and Tirrell said plant operators started to notice that the boiler filters were clogging. Sometimes, they had to shut down operations as frequently as twice an hour to clear them, he said. They also experienced low water pressure, he said.

They reported the problem to the town and to the water plant operators, Tirrell said.

"We believe they did everything they could," to fix the problem, he said. But the problem continued.

"I'm not blaming anybody," he said. "If they couldn't fix it, we did."

Tirrell said Mountaire made several inquiries to the town regarding drilling a new well, and it was a common topic at town meetings.

However, when the new Frankford town commissioners were voted into office, they were unaware of the inquiries Mountaire made.

“We don’t desire any conflict with the town of Frankford, and we have done our best to offer the best solution we can to help them,” he said.

Contact Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.