Firestone’s wastewater pools beginning to operate correctly
Aerial photo of the facilities, with the new ponds located behind the brewery. Photo courtesy of Alison and Matt Brynildson.
Firestone Walker Brewery odor update
According to a report by the Paso Robles Public Works Department’s Industrial Waste Manager Patti Gwathmey, Firestone Walker Brewery’s wastewater treatment ponds are finally beginning to function correctly.
Gwathmey presented the following points in regards to the pool’s operations:
• Tuesday at noon Firestone staff noticed that Pond #1 began showing an increasing level of Dissolved Oxygen (D.O.) which is an indication that the correct microbiology is growing and the pond is beginning to function as designed. Wednesday morning the D.O. was 4.2 mg/L. (Up from 0.1 mg/L from Tuesday morning.)
• There was no odor coming off of Pond #1 Wednesday, but Pond #2 still had a slight odor. Previously the ponds continuously belched offensive odors.
• Pond #2 has been divided into two ponds by a plastic weir to help drop out settables.
• Pumps are being used to re-circulate the water between the ponds to help balance the chemistry in the ponds.
• Adam Firestone reported that he has not received any odor complaints the past few days.
• Once the chemistry in the ponds meets the city’s Local Limit for Biological Oxygen Demand and the city’s wastewater treatment plant is fully functional, Firestone will slowly introduce raw wastewater from the brewery into the ponds and begin discharging to the sewer once again. Introducing the raw brewery wastewater must be done slowly to avoid another upset.
• Firestone is preparing plans to install an Equalization Tank which will feed an even discharge into the treatment ponds to help alleviate future upsets.
• Once the ponds are stabilized, Firestone will retain one of the MBRs for a pilot program to determine if effluent from the filter can be re-used for cleaning in the brewery.
