Canton Mill receives violations for wastewater discharge; could face thousands in fines
Despite being closed for over eight months, the Pactiv Evergreen Paper Mill in Canton has continued to receive notices of violation from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality — notably, for the excess discharge of fecal coliform bacteria.
The mill has received three violations in the first week of February in which NCDEQ monitoring reports indicated the paper mill dumped coliform at 50% above the state limit, twice in October and once in November.
The notices of violation come months after the date of the dumping.
"DWR receives a monitoring report from PactivEvergreen, the current owner of the mill, up to 30 days after the end of each month. DWR can issue a notice of violation immediately upon receiving the monitoring report, although sometimes staff will seek more information first," NCDEQ Division of Water Resources spokesperson Laura Oleniacz. wrote to the Citizen Times Feb. 7.
In the last five years, the company has received at least seven notices of violation for excess coliform discharges into the Pigeon River, with the site receiving 21 fecal coliform violations in the past 10 years, according to Oleniacz.
The daily fecal coliform limit is 400 for every 100 milliliters. Each day of violation registered as 600 for every 100 milliliters.
While most fecal coliform bacteria — a single celled organism that lives in human and animal intestines — do not cause illness, but their presence could indicate disease-causing organisms in water, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
E. coli bacteria is a sub-group of coliform bacteria. The bacteria can cause severe illness, kidney failure and death, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The mill has operated as the primary system for wastewater treatment in Canton since 1964. As the mill winds down operations, the town has received $38 million from the NC General Assembly to build a new wastewater management facility.
The reports come as other notices of violation were filed against Pactiv Evergreen in 2023 for illegally dumping chemicals into the wastewater system. Evergreen later submitted a letter denying the accusation.
As with the illegal dumping violations, NCDEQ has filed an intent to assess a civil penalty against Evergreen for the illegal October discharges. The civil penalty could result in no more than $25,000 in fines.
A fine may not be the only sizeable bill Pactiv Evergreen must pay.
In 2015, the state provided a $12 million grant to Pactiv Evergreen on the condition it keeps at least 800 employees on staff at the Canton mill through the end of 2024. Top state officials — including Attorney General Josh Stein and Gov. Roy Cooper — have entered into negotiations to return the money to state hands.
'Fecal exceedances' date back to 2019
In a September letter to NCDEQ and the town of Canton, Pactiv Evergreen noted the "rash of fecal exceedances" started in 2019, when Evergreen expected "the Town to continue to chlorinate its domestic wastewater prior to their wastewater flowing to the WWTP."
"Evergreen is obtaining field coliform test kits that can be used to obtain more real-time data of fecal coliform levels in the post-disinfection domestic wastewater from the Town to evaluate the adequacy of the Town' s existing disinfection system at various flow rates," the letter reads.
A 2022 letter from then mill manager John McCarthy indicates the town had established a temporary disinfection system on "a large leg of the sewer system that serves many commercial businesses, a school and many residences" which had not previously been disinfected.
"WR has been in communication with Pactiv about addressing the fecal coliform violations since they were reported. According to staff, Pactiv has installed new chlorination equipment at the head of their wastewater treatment plant," Oleniacz wrote to the Citizen Times.
The Citizen Times reached out to Pactiv Evergreen but did not hear back before deadline.
In recent years, the section of the French Broad River that runs through Asheville has not meet recreational standards due to elevated E. coli levels. In 2023, Asheville-based river health nonprofit MountainTrue reported E. coli levels across 61.5% of sites the organization tested failed to meet EPA recreational standards.
More: After Canton plant closure, NC leaders in talks with Pactiv Evergreen over $12M incentives
Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Canton Mill receives 2 wastewater violations, could face fines
