Refresco appears to be cleaning up its act
By Terry Murry on Friday, November 5th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WALLA WALLA – Walla Walla Public Works has seen some positive improvements this past month with the Refresco Beverages Group bottling plant’s wastewater discharge. The plant, which is located at 1164 Dell Avenue, has been cited multiple times for being out of compliance with regulations. Those violations have resulted in thousands of dollars in fines.
“They installed a temporary treatment system that is now operational and seems to be helping quite a bit in reducing their biochemical oxygen demand numbers, although their PCB results are still above permit limits and will likely not be reduced until the final treatment system is installed,” Public Works Environmental Engineer Leah Rohan said.
The Walla Walla Development Services Department recently approved Refresco’s plans for constructing a full treatment system and the company has started the construction process. Rohan said the Washington State Department of Ecology has been made aware of these improvements and is helping the city in the process of getting Refresco in compliance with the regulations. Refresco is required to provide the city with monthly status updates on its progress towards full permit compliance.
The city has set a compliance date of June 30, 2022. If Refresco fails to meet that deadline, its permit will be revoked, effectively prohibiting the company’s wastewater discharge, which will force the bottling plant to cease operations. About 120 people work at the facility.
