Report: Mountaire, DNREC, EPA all to blame for Millsboro groundwater contamination
Mountaire Farms has a history of chronic wastewater violations and may not have been in compliance with permits since 2005. That’s the findings from a report investigating wastewater treatment practices of Mountaire Farms Millsboro facility.
Authored by the Delaware Center for Inland Bays, the report finds nitrate concentration of groundwater surrounding the chicken plant is around 4 times higher than other aquifers around the Indian River Bay and that overall ground water pollution surrounding the facility is continuing to increase.
While the report faults the company for extensive and prolonged groundwater contamination, it also places blame at the feet of DNREC and the EPA, saying “neither EPA nor DNREC have enforced compliance with conditions of the facility’s multiple permits and orders, and this contributed to the ultimate failure of the wastewater treatment system in 2017.”
