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Sabroso approved to irrigate with waste By Sara Murphy PHOENIX � Sabroso Co. plans to begin irrigating 50 acres near Talent with wastewater from its Medford fruit-processing plant as early as next week. The project was approved Friday by the Department of Environmental Quality, allowing Sabroso to distribute up to 100,000 gallons of wastewater daily on the site at the corner of Hartley and Colver roads. "It�s getting real close; it�s getting real exciting," said Sabroso environmental manager Tim Heim, who received the DEQ permit Tuesday. The company uses drinking water to rinse fruit before it�s processed into puree and sold for use in products such as baby food and nectar drinks. The resulting wastewater is high in sugars and low in nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, Heim said. The Phoenix irrigation site allows Sabroso to comply with the Medford Water Commission�s demand that the company stop exceeding the limits of its industrial waste discharge permit by July 1 or face steep daily fines. Under a general permit, the company began trucking its excess "process water" to the site this month, Heim said. Sabroso will continue to discharge the bulk of its waste � it pays for and is permitted 400,000 gallons per day � to the Medford treatment plant. "The rest of it will go out to the farm," Heim said. Irrigation lines have been laid and Sabroso plans to begin watering a hay crop on the land as soon as a pump is installed, he said. The wastewater will be diluted with fresh water from the Talent Irrigation District, Heim said. Though dilution levels will vary, he expects as much as three-quarters of the solution to be fresh water. Sabroso�s efforts haven�t appeased at least one of the site�s neighbors who worries about the quality of his well water despite a DEQ assessment that the risk to the area�s groundwater is "very small." Tim Farrell, the closest neighbor to the site, also has concerns about the potential for fruit-loving bugs and odors emanating from the juicy water. "I�ve already got the odor here," Farrell said. "My kids describe it as �wet dog� or �dead fish.�" Sabroso is running two aerators in the 3.7-million-gallon, lined holding pond that pump oxygen into the water to help eliminate odors, Heim said. The system also will use pressure-regulated sprinklers to prevent water from pooling on the field. "We check the pond on a daily basis for odor," Heim said. "We haven�t really noticed a problem, but some people are more sensitive than others." Heim said officials from Sabroso and Cascade Earth Sciences, the engineering firm working on the project, met recently with about 15 neighbors of the irrigation site to listen to their concerns. Farrell said the water�s not the only thing that stinks about Sabroso�s project. In May, he filed an appeal to the state Land Use Board of Appeals arguing that Jackson County should have notified neighbors and held a hearing before ruling that the project complied with the property�s Exclusive Farm Use zoning. LUBA officials are gathering information on the case; no date has been set for a decision. "The biggest concern I have is with the county process," Farrell said. "They put themselves above the law. It�s almost like dealing with a communist country." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA