SANTA PAULA : Company to Pay for City Plant Upgrade

Calavo Growers of California can continue to flush guacamole down the drain at its Santa Paula food processing plant, thanks to an agreement approved by the Santa Paula City Council.

In exchange, the firm’s food processing division has agreed to pay for improvements to the city’s waste water treatment plant that will add extra capacity to the plant at the same time it removes the guacamole residue.

The avocado processor has been unable to meet the city’s standard for dissolved organic material in its waste stream, said Norman S. Wilkinson, head of the city’s public works department. “In this case, the organic waste is the avocado from washing down their food processing equipment,” Wilkinson said. “There’s a lot of guacamole on the floor.”

Despite Calavo’s difficulty in controlling the organic matter in the 30,000 gallons of water that the firm discharges each day, the city’s filtration plant continues to operate within the standard, he said. The city plant treats 2 million gallons of waste water a day.

Under terms of the 20-year agreement approved by the City Council on Monday, Calavo--which employs up to 115 people at peak times--will receive an increased limit on suspended organics, oil and grease and total suspended solids.

Calavo will pay up to $180,000 for the project, which will enable the plant to handle four times the amount of extra organic matter discharged from the Calavo plant, providing extra capacity for other customers as well, Wilkinson said.