“We are in compliance,” says Conagra about alleged Stanislaus River Pollution

In an email dated March 29, a Conagra spokesperson wrote, “Conagra has the proper permits from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board and we are in compliance with the regulatory requirements as specified in the permits. This includes managing the flow of water from our facility, proper monitoring and completing reporting procedures.”

Don Hare, Conagra’s director for “Communications and External Relations,” was responding to our inquiry about possible pollution of the Stanislaus River by wastewater from Conagra’s food processing plant in Oakdale, California. We had heard about the possibility of pollution from an anonymous tipster last October. Subsequently, we learned that a letter about the issue was sent recently to local irrigation districts and the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA).

In the letter, attorney Peter Ton cites an anonymous “complainant” who, “is reporting illegal wastewater discharges to the Oakdale Irrigation District (“OID”) Cavill Drain which, through a series of canals, ultimately flows to the Stanislaus River.”

The Cavill Drain cuts through, “the 925 acre Brichetto Ranch and 291 acre Amaral Ranch,” both of which are south of the City of Oakdale. The ranches apparently apply “process wastewater” to irrigate pastureland.

According to Don Hare, “To our knowledge, the water is only used on the landowner’s property rather than discharging it through other sources.” Based on that information and claims made in Ton’s letter of complaint, it seems possible wastewater could exit the Cavil Drain without anyone’s knowledge, if only because no one seems to be monitoring it.

During this winter of heavy rain, it’s not at all unlikely that water used to irrigate pastureland could enter the Cavill Drain as runoff. Peter Ton claims that samples of water exiting the Cavill Drain contained “elevated pollutants (e,g, nitrogen and salt)” from Conagra as well as pollutants from the Sconza Candy facility, also in Oakdale.

At this point, especially because there are water samples showing so, it seems more likely that wastewater has exited the Cavill Drain than not, and that the wastewater did indeed contain high levels of pollutants. Putting questions of liability aside — though they may arise at some point — it is greatly in the public interest to know who — other than Mr. Ton’s “anonymous complainant” — has been monitoring water that leaves the Cavill Drain and from there ends up in the Stanislaus River.

According to Ton, “The Discharges to the Cavill Drain and Stanislaus River violate the Clean Water Act’s (“CWA”) prohibition against point source discharges of pollutants to navigable waters without a permit.” If that’s the case, the public needs to know and the pollution needs to stop.