Oskar Blues Brewery invests in wastewater treatment system

Wastewater tip: Trouble really starts if your brewery is in a small town, with a small treatment plant, and you want to expand. You might have to start looking at treating your wastewater on site, and this is a game you do not want to play if you don’t have to.

While craft brewers are often heavily involved in their local communities, sometimes just being a business owner means that you can make an impact. In the case of wastewater, that impact can be significant, and possibly negative if you’re not employing the correct wasterwater treatment processes. As we pointed out in our latest feature story focusing on this very issue:

For small production brewers who discharge to a local wastewater treatment plant…There are three main issues to address with regards to the wastewater — pH, concentration of BOD and TSS. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is a measure of the nutrient value of wastewater. Total suspended solids (TSS) is a measure of suspended solids in wastewater. Brewery wastewater is higher in sugar and alcohol compared to normal domestic wastewater which most treatment plants were designed to treat.

It’s no wonder why Oskar Blues has reportedly made a large investment in water treatment equipment, in accordance with an agreement made with the city of Brevard, the Citizen-Times reported. According to the report:

The brewery will make a “substantial investment” in equipment to improve the water discharge … Oskar Blues obtains its water from the Brevard city system, and it is the biggest user of the discharge plant, Harris said. Monitoring and reporting equipment will make sure the discharge is compliant.

Be sure to head over to the Citizen-Times for the full story and don’t miss our massive feature on wastewater. It might just impact your brewery in a big way.