Sugar beet co-op in Renville, Minnesota, meets water quality standards despite adverse weather

Tom Cherveny, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·3 min read

Aug. 4—RENVILLE

— A smaller crop to process and a long-sought agreement allowing the

Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative

to extend the time period for discharging its treated wastewater should have aided the company in meeting state water quality standards.

The cooperative was able to comply with all of its water quality discharge requirements in the past year, but its manager of environmental affairs described just how challenging it proved to be in a report to the

Renville County Board of Commissioners

on Aug. 1.

"The challenge is always in the winter," Vidyasagar "Sagar" Sunkavalli told the commissioners about the challenges the cooperative faced.

For 17 years running, the cooperative has been discharging its treated wastewater into Renville County Ditch 45, which joins Sacred Heart Creek as it reaches the

Minnesota River

. The permit allowing the cooperative to do so requires that it provide an annual report to the county on its compliance with the water quality requirements for discharging into the system.

Successive winter storms brought heavy snows followed by subzero temperatures that frequently plugged the ditch with snow and ice.

Despite numerous efforts to clear the ditch, the cooperative lost 64 days when it could not discharge into the ditch during the 2022-23 processing campaign. That works out to roughly 120 million gallons of treated wastewater that could not be released in a timely fashion.

The cooperative discharged 259 million gallons to County Ditch 45 through the campaign, and land-irrigated 166 million gallons.

The cooperative is allowed to discharge into County Ditch 45 beginning with the processing campaign that starts in September. Until last year, the cooperative was allowed to continue its discharge until the end of March.

Last year, the county agreed to allow the cooperative to extend the discharge period into April.

In response to concerns of farmers along the system, the county placed a requirement that April discharges had to be suspended whenever water levels in the ditch reached specified levels at two gauges placed at separate locations.

Last winter's snow melt and high water levels meant the cooperative was able to discharge only during six days in April of this year.

Sunkavalli said the cooperative would like to extend its discharge pipe farther downstream in the ditch to get beyond the upper stretch, which is more prone to icing up.

Despite it all, he noted that the cooperative was able to comply with all of its requirements for discharge. He reported that an

independent assessment of the discharges for 17 years now

has found that the cooperative's discharges have "no measurable impact to the downstream water quality."

The cooperative's member growers harvested 2.9 million tons of sugar beets in the last season. The factory sliced 2.6 million tons. The previous season, growers harvested a record 3.6 million tons and the factory sliced 3.2 million tons.

Last season's smaller harvest and the cold temperatures meant there were few problems with beet spoilage at the company's 11 remote piling sites, Sunkavalli also reported.