EOT to lease lagoon at wastewater treatment plant

Danielle Ryan

(11/9) The Board approved the storage and lease agreement from Enviro-Organic Technologies (EOT) during the November 7 Town meeting. During the October Town Council meeting, Phillip Snader, of EOT petitioned the Town Council to use one of the town’s lagoons to temporarily store food process residuals, specifically from poultry processing plants.

EOT is the current sludge hauler utilized by the town, and has been working with the town for the past ten years. In July, town staff received a letter from EOT requesting to use one of the lagoons, specifically lagoon 3, to store the organic material. Town Manager Cathy Willets stated that lagoon 3 is not currently in operation, and has not been used since the new wastewater plant has been in operation. Lagoon 3 has only been used to store excess rainwater, but there is plenty of room in the other lagoons to store excess water if needed.

Snader spoke to the Council about the new nutrient management regulations set in place by the Maryland Department of Agriculture, specifically regarding the spreading of organic material on farmlands. One of the regulations, especially pertinent to EOT, took effect July 1 and states that the Eastern section of the state cannot have any organic material applied to it from November 15 through February 28.

This means that the material needs to be stored somewhere, and Snader has a plan in place to comply with regulations. After contacting Dan Fissel, the Water/Sewer Superintendent, Snader realized that the out of service lagoons could be used to store the food process residuals during the "no spread" time frame.

Snader proposed the town allow EOT to use lagoon 3 from Nov 8 to Feb 28. Come March 1, EOT would take the material out of the lagoons and spread it on the farmland. The proposal comes with an $80,000 rental agreement for the four months. Willets stated that the money would stay at the wastewater treatment plant for the first year. After that, there is a possibility that some of it may be used for special projects.

Commissioner O’Donnell discussed the importance of notifying the Town of onsite spillage in the event that such a circumstance may occur. As this issue was not addressed in the first draft of the contract, EOT made it clear that they would amend the contract to ensure that this protocol would be added. The contract was unanimously approved.