Operation of a Packing Plant Waste
Treatment Plant, Cherokee, Iowa
BARNETTE L.HESTER, Director of Public Works
City of Cherokee
Cherokee, Iowa
PAUL T.McCLURG, Project Engineer
DeWild Grant Reckert & Associates Co.
Rock Rapids, Iowa
INTRODUCTION
In 1964—1965, the City of Cherokee, Iowa, constructed a waste treatment
facility to treat the wastes derived from a new beef—pork packinghouse built at
Cherokee by Wilson & Co., Inc. The method of treatment selected was a variation of
the anaerobic contact process (1,2).
Cherokee, with 1970 population of about 9,000, in northwestern Iowa, is
located in the valley of the Little Sioux River which is highly regarded by
conservationists as an excellent catfishing stream. It is the only receiving stream for
the discharge of treated wastes in the vicinity of Cherokee. The volume of dilution
water available varies greatly during the year with the lowest flows usually occurring
during the winter months of January and February. Flows of less than five cu ft/sec
occur periodically during these months.
The Wilson packinghouse wastes have an approximate population equivalent of
100,000 persons. Mechanical methods of treatment investigated for this waste were
estimated at over $1,000,000 construction costs with operating costs in excess of
$50,000/yr.
Extensive study was conducted of the research publications of Fullen, Sollo,
Schroepfer, McKinney and others (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8). Impressive results were obtained
by Sollo in pilot plant installations of anaerobic lagoons at Moultrie, Georgia; Wilson,
North Carolina, and Perry, Iowa (3). The combination of components of treatment
selected in Cherokee was conceived and developed jointly by Mr. A. J. Steffen, then
Manager of Research and Technical Division for Wilson & Co., Inc., and DeWild
Grant Reckert & Associates Co., the authors. The Iowa State Department of Health
approved the design criteria conceived in the preliminary layouts, with the following
conditions: 1) five day BOD of the treated effluent not exceeding 50 mg/1; 2) no
pollution conditions allowed to exist in the Little Sioux River; 3) and storage or
retention of flows within the plant for at least 110 days.
DESIGN
The preliminary loadings calculated were based upon two—eight hr hog shifts
and one—eight hr beef shift per day. Waste loadings were then computed from the
information supplied by Wilson & Company.
The Wilson & Co. plant at Cherokee has essentially a killing floor, carcass
-436-