By DAVE SCHULTZ
A Bluffton food production facility has been granted six more months to get the effluent it is sending into the city’s sewer system under control — something it appears to be doing.
An agreed order is in place with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management that notes that Pretzels Inc., 123 Harvest Road, was violating effluent limitations on biochemical oxygen demand during six different months in 2020, eight months in 2021, and 10 months in 2022. IDEM stepped in and ordered the company to improve its treatment. The order was approved Jan. 31, 2023.
Tuesday evening, Tony Fey, superintendent of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, came to the Bluffton Common Council and said he was recommending that a special agreement with Pretzels Inc. be renewed for another six months. He said the company has been improving its effluent control since January.
“Since this agreement went into effect for them and they got the go-ahead and IDEM approval, I have seen a noticeable difference from our testing,” Fey said in a letter to the council asking for the agreement to be extended. “They have only been out of compliance one time and that was early on. We have been in communication with them about what their plans were moving forward.”
After some discussion Tuesday, the five Common Council members — Josh Hunt, Chandler Gerber, Rick Elwell, Scott Mentzer, and Janella Stronczek — agreed to extend the agreement.
daves@news-banner.com
