Lagoons Plus Spray Irrigation for
Effective Bean Cannery Waste Treatment
NELSON L. NEMEROW, Professor
JOHN D. SCOTT, Graduate Student
Department of Civil Engineering
Syracuse University
Syracuse, New York
INTRODUCTION
The Growers and Packers Cooperative was formed in 1936 for the purpose of growing
and packing beans. The original plant was located in North Collins, New York and its
wastes were discharged to the North Collins Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant. The
author became involved with the Gro-Pac Canning operation in February 1965 when the
municipal treatment plant experienced operating difficulties due to an overload of the plant
by high flows and odors from the cannery. At that time the author characterized the
cannery's waste as a readily oxidizable organic waste capable of biological treatment. Due
to the problems related to the waste being accepted in the municipal treatment plant in 1966,
Gro-Pac decided to move their facility and construct a new plant in Eden, New York, only a
few miles north of North Collins (Figure 1). This new facility was completed early in 1967
and its owners contracted with Byron Whitford of Hamburg, New York for the design of an
industrial waste treatment facility at their new location.
Figure I -    Site of Gro-Pac Cannery.
The packing season is usually a three or four month (10 week) period from July -
September. During the 1967 pack season the plant operated with a three pond lagoon
system (as shown in Figure 2) and the treated waste was discharged into a drainage ditch
(alongside the Erie Lackawanna Railroad) which finally discharged into Rythus Creek.
During this season (1967 pack season), however, a number of problems accrued. These
were:
I -Offensive odors from the ponds
2- Possible pollution of Rythus Creek
3-Over production and excessive hydraulic load
4- Discharge into drainage ditch
5-Inadequate maintenance of treatment facility.
For these reasons the State Health Department issued a letter to the Company to
correct these problems before the I96X pack season before reissuing an operating permit.
Early in 1968 the authors were contacted by the management of Gro-Pac and asked to
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