Sanderson Farms, of Kinston, North Carolina, and Tyson Foods, of Russellville, Arkansas, were recently named the recipients of the 2016 Clean Water Award, presented by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY). The award recognizes poultry facilities that have excelled in their efforts at water reclamation.

Awards were presented during USPOULTRY’s Environmental Management Seminar in Destin, Floria in two categories: full treatment and pretreatment.

“We received many outstanding applications for this year’s Clean Water Awards, and they should all be commended,” said Paul Hill, West Liberty Foods, Ellsworth, Iowa, and chairman of USPOULTRY. “The caliber of the applications received goes to show how seriously our members take water treatment and conserving our earth’s natural resources. Congratulations to this year’s winners.”

The full treatment category honor, which was awarded to the Sanderson Farms broiler processing plant, recognizes an exceptional plant that treats wastewater with an exceptionally high standard of quality, allowing the facility to discharge into a receiving stream or final land application system.

The Sanderson Farms facility processes approximately 250,000 birds per day, generating an average wastewater flow of 1.4 million gallons per day. Numerous wastewater treatment processes are utilized, including biological treatment, oxygenation, clarification and ultra-violent disinfection, as is discharged through a land application system that produces hay and pine trees, which helps to recharge the aquifer that supports facility operations.

The pretreatment category honor, which was awarded to Tyson Food’s further processing facility, recognizes a facility that discharges pretreated effluent to a publicly-owned, full treatment facility for further treatment.

The Tyson Foods plant treats an average of 200,000 thousand gallons of water per day, and recently installed a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system to more efficiently monitor and operate dissolve air flotation (DAF) units, flow meters, tanks, pumps and other equipment remotely. In an effort to save energy, The facility also manages the operation of tank aerators to ensure they are not running simultaneously, which saves energy, and operations are continuously being reviewed in order to expand the facility’s reuse of treated wastewater.

Tyson Foods River Valley Animal Foods of Scranton, Ark. received honorable mention in the full treatment category. Keystone Foods in Gadsden, Ala., and Tyson Foods in Rogers, Ark., received honorable mention in the pre-treatment category.