Adventures in Geology – Why I Couldn’t Eat Bacon for a LONG Time
Years ago, drilling companies called me to provide geologic services to their companies, as they tried to take care of their clients. One of them called me up one bright, sunny day, and requested my services at a Meat Packing facility up in Central Indiana. I was to be the official "sacrificial lamb", which really didn't matter to me, anyway. I didn't have a lot of repeat business, if I did my job right the first time.
The meat packing company, who shall remain nameless, needed a new drinking water supply. They had a water well on the property that they used for process water, but for some reason, the water had turned black, and their employees wouldnt drink it and were very unhappy. The drilling company that called me was in a quandary, as they couldnt find any place to put a new well. Not that I could, either, but they had a relationship of long standing with this firm, and it is better to spread bad news via stranger than via friend. It could easily be a case of Lets shoot the messenger, and I didnt mind being the messenger, as long as I got paid for it.
The plant was located in a good-sized city in Indiana, within the flat till plain, and next to a decent, if small, river, that lay in a sand and gravel outwash valley. Not that one could tell it was a valley at the surface, but there was a nice valley in the bedrock, filled with sands and gravels, and covered over with glacial till. Till is a mix of clay and silt, that is deposited by a glacier. Once the glacier melts, it carves out stream channels in the till to carry the melt-water away from the glacier.
I drove up there and met the manager of the plant in his office. The odor from the holding pens assaulted me as I entered the property, and I arrived coughing and gasping for air. Any air! Preferably non-pig-poop smelling air! No other poop in the world smells quite as badly as pig poop.
The manager, whom I shall call Mr. Cheap, resembled his product, in that he looked like a big, pink-faced hog, with a bright red tie, and a tie tack that read, Pork. He sat in his overstuffed Executive Chair, and told me, There is nothing wrong with this water, it's process water, not drinking water.
I nodded and smiled, wondering if I could wear a gas mask while I worked there. Not so, it seemed, as everyone, the manager, the secretaries, the workers, the drivers-- everyone had the same sour expression. When I visited the ladies room, I noticed the same sour expression on my own face, and decided that the smell was overwhelming, and not just to me. Not only that, but when I turned the faucet on to wash my hands, the water came out black. EW ! I thought. I didnt wash my hands, preferring my own gunk over their gunk.
A firm believer in pleasant facial expressions in order to get the job done with a minimum of fuss, I set my face into "cheerful mode", and returned to Mr. Cheaps office to request a tour of the plantnot the slaughter house, just the processing part. This was a hard job for me, as I really like pigs, and their screams and squeals were sort of like standing on the edge of hell, looking in. Besides, I had seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre , and was a bit, er, leery of meeting with the people that worked in the abattoir area of the plant. The plant was set up like this:
Anyway, we left by the side door, next to the nice little river, whose muddy water moved dully along, oily in the sun. The water looked almost black, like it was coal wash water. Hmmmm , I thought. We continued past the waste water lagoon, which I asked if it was lined, or unlined.
Lined? What do you mean? Mr. Cheap asked me, casting a baleful eye on me for such a stupid question.
Lined with bentonite, or some kind of impermeable layer? I asked, innocently.
Nope. Not good. Uh oh. I nodded thoughtfully.
I saw the location of the water well, which was up by the main building and learned that it pumped a steady 500 gpm all day, except at night, when they shut the plant down. Anything pumping 500 gpm, (.72 million gallons per day), day after day, would have filled that lagoon in a matter of days, so it made sense it was unlined, so that excess water could leak out, physics-wise. However, pollution-wise, I couldnt think of a worse set up.
Normal groundwater flow in the area would have been to the river, but the pumping well likely reversed the ground waters flow to the well, so that any leakage from the lagoon, would make a bee-line for the well.
There was a pole, sticking up out of the ground, and next to it, a gasoline pump, ancient, but similar to the gasoline pumps at gas stations. I asked if they supplied gas to their delivery trucks, and Mr. Cheap nodded. Of course! he said. Again, he glanced at me as if I were unusually dim-witted. It was usually a reaction to the fact that my hair was blonde and fluffy.
Effluent from the plant traveled through a pipe from the plant, pouring reddish-black water and unidentifiable bits into the lagoon. Part of the general horrid odor emanated from the lagoon, so I found it to be very important to stand up wind, if at all possible.
The very first thing I did, after thanking Mr. Cheap for his help, was to use their phone to call the laboratory I used, and request a full sample box. Sample boxes come with the right size jars, plastic jugs, test tubes, fixatives, labels, chain of custody sheets, etc. I had my own sample cooler.
Right up front, I told Mr. Cheap that there really wasnt a good place anywhere near the plant to drill a new well, because no matter where you stood, you were among cars in the parking lot, next to a lagoon, next to the holding pen, which was graveled, allowing fluids to enter the sands below, next to the garbage dump, etc. Mr. Cheap glared at me, and I smiled and said, You need a drinking water well, and we need to find a clean supply away from the plant.
I left the plant joyfully, skedaddling out of there as fast as I could into clean, non-stinky, fresh air. This job was going to require some sort of a mask, lots of rubber gloves, and ear plugs, to block out the sounds of the poor pigs
The plant operated 16 hours a day, two shifts, and running a pumping test on the well was going to be difficult when working around the plant schedule. They could not do without their well, and they needed the full 500 gpm. So, we started the pumping test at 5 am, and I continued the usual measurement schedule throughout the day, and for most of the night. The drilling company provided me with a helper, whom I knew well, and we managed to survive, even though neither one of us ate much. Usually, during a pumping test, I eat all the time, to keep my strength up! Before I left, I found the river again, one block up stream, and found that the water there was so clear, I could see the bottom, which was interesting, to say the least.
We collected water samples from the well at the pump, which was equipped with a sampling tube, (miracle of miracles), and I got lots of good data to analyze. Then, I went back home and showered for hours.
Once I got the lab results back, the answers were crystal clear. The well was contaminated with the water from the waste lagoon, fecal coliform was out the roof, the water was high in salt, total dissolved solids, iron, manganese, sulfur, turbidity, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, AND it had a high BTEX index. BTEX stands for Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene, and Xylene. It is used as an indication of contamination from gasoline tanks.
This was some of the nastiest water Id ever seen, and the thought that this factory wanted their employees to drink it was nauseating. Then, it dawned on me, that this was PROCESS water and they were using it to wash the meat, as well. UGH!!!
I wrote up a fine and dandy report, explaining the contaminants and their sources, their contribution to the streams pollution, etc. The plant was operating on a semi-closed loop system. The well pulled water from the leaking lagoon into its screen, managing to collect spilled gasoline from the buried gas storage tank on its way, entered the plant, and managed to pick up all kinds of other nasty things, including the chemicals they put on the meat to preserve it, or otherwise treat it, and then, it washed out the plant, with all the blood, small pig bits, unused things, (I dont want to know), and finally, was discharged into the lagoon, to head toward the well again. That is, what didnt leak into the river next door.
The black color was from sulfur and manganese reducing bacteria that had infested the formation around the well, the holding pens added their own load of pig poop, urine, and other unsavory things, not to mention that they cooled the poor pigs off on hot days by misting them, which soaked through the gravel, and, all the vehicles in the parking lot dripping things, also increased runoff, shut off recharge of clean rain water, and generally added to the overall ickiness.
When I made my report to Mr. Cheap, he was disgusted. He need to replace his gasoline storage tank, as it was costing him money to waste gas into the ground. Mr. Cheap continued to shake his head as I detailed the other fixes: the lagoon needed to be lined, to prevent leakage in the aquifer; the well needed to be abandoned properly, and another water supply found; fecal matter needed to be collected and disposed of off site, which would ease the strain on the lagoon, He needed a NPDES permit to discharge the water in the river, and, last but not least, until he could make these fixes; he needed to provide bottled water to his employees, because the water supply was UNSAFE, and he was a Public Water Supply, and had to adhere to more stringent standards. I suggested that the factory purchase city water, which was at least clean, and he could easily filter it, if he didnt want the chlorine in the water. I also mentioned the word, liability, should some of his employees, or customers become ill.
Mr. Cheap dismissed me with a wave of his hand, but he paid his bill, which was something. I went home and stewed over it.
Fortunately, I had really good friends in the Drinking Water Section of the states EPA, so I had lunch with them and asked questions. I mentioned no names, just the city. I broke no rules of client confidentiality, but made no bones about it, that even if it is called process water, it is used to prepare food for human consumption, and it was a dangerous drinking water supply for the employees.
I later learned that the state had forced them to purchase city water, line the lagoon, replace the leaky gasoline storage tank, and the meat inspectors somehow got word, so they gave them hell, too, over their unsafe chemical usage, and nasty process water. Then the sewer department got involved and despite having spent all this money, the little plant thrived, cleanly, for the next twenty years, until it was bought out by a larger operation and scrapped.
It took almost 10 years for me to be able to eat bacon again, and in the night, sometimes, I can still hear the pigs scream and squeal.
Thanks for coming by!!!
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I was often the "sacrificial lamb" for the drilling companies, telling the client the bad news, so that they wouldn't have to do so. Yet, in many instances, the people knew that I was honestly telling them the truth according to the evidence in hand. Besides, they always had a 2"- 4" report, detailing all of it, scientifically.
This was the only time I ever considered breaking my ethical oath of geology, but, thank heavens for friends, who were smart, and understood a lot more than I had to say!
Oh, and, by the way, the facility halved their water usage when they were suddenly paying for city water, making the existing lagoon design workable. Somehow, things work out...
I hope my little news item helped you to recall this incident in your life & purge it .
It certainly did! I read your article, but did not comment until now-- I wrote this a few days ago, and have enjoyed remembering projects of long ago.
Take care, dear Petey, and thank you for coming by!!!
it was under the radar, for sure. Since it was labeled an industrial supply well, or process water, it didn't have to meet any standards. I believe that the state has since closed that little loophole-- they weren't supposed to drink it, anyway. WHAT a mess!
It's all fixed now, thank God.
I LOVE that song!!! It made the dogs look up from their naps!
Thanks so much for coming by to see me!
Yeah, well, I can't do anything about it. As long as a water utility meets EPA standards, which is the only real governing drinking water supply entity in the US, it's likely going to be there. One the other article, the CDC says that fluoride addition is one of the most healthful benefits of the 20th century.
Personally, I disagree. I think that disinfection has saved more lives than fluoride.
My grandfather nearly died of typhoid fever in 1903. Once disinfection was introduced, typhoid has become very rare.
You can take this up with your state legislature, who can make the addition of Fluoride against the law, or increase the stringency of the standard.
Thanks, BF, for coming by!!!
How dare anyone think of eating these super cute little guy and girls...How disgusting.
''Piggy Power''
I know. It was a nightmare job, because I really LIKE pigs.
UGH!!!
Dowser ,
You have the credibility on your side . Incidents like this is why people should hunt their own hogs :
Yep. They have also invaded parts of southern KY and are tearing up jack. Hogs are one thing, wild hogs are another... They're not always nice, either.
Thanks for the contribution!
Yeah, that's the truth!