I BurveL..3r&oo
INDUSTRIAL WASTE SURVEY AND WATER QUALITY SURVEY
VA !LS ING
PRESTILE STP W , EASTON, 1 AINE
SEPTE ER 29, 1971

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INDUSTRIAL WASTE SURVEY AND WATER QUALITY SURVEY
VAELSING I CORP0 ATED
AND
PRESTILE STREAM, EAST0:c, MAINE
S2PTEM3ER 29, 1971
On Semtember 29, 197, United Stntes Environmental Protection Agency,
Region I personnel o.tained water quality samples at various locations on
the Prestila Stream and the Va üS Inc. to processing plant discharge
intO Lake Jo e hine. Lake Josephine is a s or ge reservoir fo Vahlsing’s
scent process water, which is used for potato field irrigation. Permission
to saple the storage reservoir was granted by David Whitney, head chemist,
and Vaughn Fitz-!erbert, quality control engineer.
Plant Description
Vahlsing Inc. packages fresh and frozen potato oroducts. The Vahising
plant processes french fries, whole potatoes, and various other pota o products.
The rated caPacity is about 385 tons of potatoes per day. Approximately OO
eoole are emoloyed during the 26C day processing season. 0 eration of the
plant is continuous, with three shifts daily. Figure 1 shows the annual
calendar for ootato growing and rocessing.
A water supply of about 1500 gallons er minute is drawn from the Prestile
Stream and Lake Christina. A dam across the Prestile Stream, about 100 yards
uostream of sampling station PT—02 (see Table 1), diverts a portion of the
process water into the plant. Before entering the plant, the water supply is
chlorinated. A process flow diagram and subsequent waste products is shown in
Figure 2.
Prior to stora, e the potatoes are sorted for variety, size, quality and
color. They are mechanically conveyed to a prewash tank, followed by lye—
oeeling. The lye—oeeling bath loosens the skins which are then removed, along
with exoess caustic, by mechanical brushing ar.d soraying. The pc atoes are then
treated with sodium bisulfite, trimmed to remove undesired oortions, and passed
to a di tank. The dio tank equalizes the flow of potatoes to the cutting
machine. Slivers and other small pieces are separated and processed into molded
potato products. The potatoes are inspected again and blanched in three stages,
which entails disodiun pyrophosphate treatment, cooling to 100°F, and dextrose
addition for color control. The ootatoes are then fried, degreased, cooled,
sized, frozen and packaged. (The above processing information was taken from,
Report on Sewerage and Wastewater Treatment for the Town of Easton, Maine’ t ,
February, 1970 by Carr.o, Dress and !cKee.)
c the spent process water leaves the plant, ir enters an A—framed building
where the large solids are removed by a vibrating screen and trucked away for
animal feed. The liquid waste proceeds through a series of settling lagoons,
and is finally discharged to Lake Josephine for storage.

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POTATO
PLANTING
GROW ING
HARVESTING
PROCESSING
flC(J ‘ r•
JUE
HAY
AUG SEPT OCT
DEC JAN
?EB
MAR AP fA’ JUNE
JULY
NOV
110. 1 — YEARLY G [ ? UW1NG & PROCESSING SCHEDULE, VAHLSING INC.

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.1
-—
F G. 2 VA -1LS1 G, !N C. FLOW D!AG AM (POT.:.TO PROCESS NC)
I.
• POTATO S RECt :V!NG C sO TINc, STOr AGC
,
[ REWASHI ROCK SEP. RATIO’1J ..
.t
I
?
8AT?
\1
IMECHM ’IC L BRUSHING
-
• -. ISPRAY V/ASrflNG
“7
• SODIUM B SULFITE TANK
I
ITRI MM!NG
.
- •: Hi L0 G TANK —

- - [ cu1E s -
,
-
— •
• a DEWATERING
- • - - LINE I LINE a
LBLANCHING 3 STAGES J__._I
YLTERING LSHAKERS)
‘ ,
• jFR!ERS
/ •• • I-.
• :- -l IDEGREASING
• ••.• •‘
ICCOLINC TU CLS C2) 1 FIEZINGJ—

- ,• - 1 S.ZING S -fAK RS

• C 
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Sm li :nfc : ion
Dissolved oxygen (DO), tampe:att.re, pE chlorine residual, and turbidity
were ternined by field analy3is. Alkalinity, 5—day BOD, total mercury,
total phos horus, non—filterable residue (total and fixed) and oil and grease
s moies were shipped o the U.S. E.P.A. Region I, New Er. land Regional
Laboratory f . r analysis. Figure 3 shows all sampling locations.
Dissolved oxygen was determined wich a Y.S.I. probe and meter and checked
by the Wind.er Method. One liter of stable water was drawn from a five gallon
caoJ in.o a du tod c 7 a: , ‘a :ed fir . t th Y.S.:.
probe, and second y the JirLklor Yechod. I the DO’s were consistent, the DO
in the scream was ob;ained wich the Y.S.I. probe. The probe was washed in
soa y water and com ,ared to the Winkier Method again (same pro edure as above).
Ii the DO’s were still consiscent, the probe DO of the stream was rocordec.
The temperature was also recorded 2rom the ‘1.5.1. probe.
All samples were obtained by hand dipping the approiriate container into
the stream. Turbidiry, uor.—filterabie residue, alkalinity, 5—day 30D, total
mercury, and total phosphorus samples were placed in plastic containers. Oil
and grease sam7les were placed in glass bottles, covered by aluminum foil and
capoed with metal screw—on covers. The flow at each station was measured with
a pygmy current meter.
The H and chlorine residual tests (determined by a color chlorine
comparator) were run in the field. A Hach 2100 turbimeter was used to d :ermine
cha turbidity. The ncn—filterable residue san les were filtered in the motel
room and returned to the laboratory for weighing. The alkalinity, 5—day BOD,
to al mercury, total phosphorus, and oil and grease samples were preserved
according to nvironnental Protection Agency Standard Methods, packed with ice
in insulaced boxes, and shipped by Aroostock Airlines to Boston. The sar p1es
were transported from Boston to NERL for analysis by E.P.A. personnel. Complete
E.P.A. Region I chain of custody procedures ware maintained at all times.
General Observations
During a reconnaissaace survey of the Vahlsing plant on July 28, 1971, a
significant discharge into the ?restile Straar was observed. This discharge was
located on the Prestile Scream side of the most southeasterly lagoon. According
to Mr. Whitney, the plant was not in ooeration nor discharging to the Prastile
Stream. On September 29, 1971, the same Mr. Whitney was questioned about this
discharge. He indicated this discharge was .Erom their boilers. Mr. Whitney
also commented on the fact that this me lagoon had rupturcd during the soring
of 1971.
Below the Vahising plant a large amount of aquatic growth was present at the
various sampling staciorLs on the Prestile Stream. At station PT—01, just below
Lake Christina and above the Vahising plant, less aquatic growth was present.
A large amount of bottom sediment seemed co be oresent at all Prestile Strear
sampling stations.
2
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— L S
Tab lc 2 contains the results of the sample analysis. The 5—day BOD
co-’ca--tiet o-’ in tba storage reservoir as 118 nlligrrs ter liter tr cat ng
a high organic content in the faciLity’s wastewater. nn increase in the 5—day
BOD conc ntrazion from less than 1.2 milligrams per liter at the upstream
station (PT—O1) to 4.4 milligrams per liter at the downstream station (PT—02)
of the Prcsti le Stream may incicate seepage from the lagoon system and storage
reservoir.
Preaant ,;; the s;g;:z e r a:-yc,ir arc e cceo yaiy ‘ h concentrations of
both total and fi: ed residue, tctal ohosphorus 9 and alkalinity. A marked
increase irs the stream total and fixed residues, cotal phosphorus, and
alkalinity concentrations were observed between stations PT—O1 and PT—02.
This reach of the river passes the \Tahlsing incorporated plant.
.3
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‘T’AT)T? I
STATION LOCATION
INDUSTRIAL WASTE SURVEY AND WATER QUALITY SURVEY
VAHLSING INCORPORATED
AND
PRESTILE STREAN, EASTON, MA::cE
Station Lcnzitude Latitude Description of Station
o “ o H (See Appendix for hotograpb
of each stz ion)
PT—0l 67 53 16 46 41 15 Prestile Stream, upstream side
of bridge, just dounst:eam of
Lake Christina (Eastcn, Mair.e)
PT—02 67 53 51 46 39 46 Prestile Stream, jest dotirnstrea
of Vahlsing Inc. (E ston, Maine)
PT—2A 67 54 40 46 38 28 Upstream side of Rt. 10 bridge
over Prestile Stream
(Eastor , Maine)
PT—03 67 55 ii 46 34 15 Upstream side of Vestfield bridge
over Prestile Stream (Westfield,
Maine)
PT—OL 67 52 01 46 31 05 Just upstream of the Mars Hill
Dam on the Presrile Stream,
( a s Hill, Maine)
VAL.1 67 53 59 46 39 55 Lake Jose hine storage reservoir,
for Vahlsing Inc.’s waste.
(cn bank of reservoir, about 10
feet from submerged discharge)
(Easton, Maine)
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PAGE NOT
AVAILABLE
DIGITALLY
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SAMPLE ANALYSES
A3BREVIATIONS AND UNITS OF 2ASURE
Analyscs reported Description : :easured In
Flo j ow o szream at the Cubic feet er second
sai ling sz tion (c s)
Tem?erat S .?le tCu?2 tti 2 :ee ce- ti rade (°C)
pH Hydrogc ion corLce .t at1on Standard units S.U.
Turbidity Turbidity Jackson Candle Turbidity
Units JTU
DO Dissolved oxygen Milligrams per liter
(mg/l)
BOD 5—day 5—day biochemical rng/l
oxygen demand, incubaied
at 20°C
Total nonfilterable Total suspended solids mg/l
rasidue
Fi :ed nonfilterable Inorganic suspended solids mg/i
residue
Oil and grease Hexane extractables mg/i
oil and grease
Chlorine residual mg/i
Alkalinity Capacity for neutralizing mg/i as Calcium
acids Carbonate (CaCO 3 )
Total mercury ug/l as mercury
Total -3hosphorus mg/l as phosphorus
Letters preceedin a reported valu2 denote the following:
K — less than
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TAJ3I,E 2
S1J11 1ARY OF RESULTS
INDUSTRIAL WASTE SURVEY AND WATER QUAL 1I’Y SURVEY
VAI1LS [ NC INCOP PO11ATE1)
AND
PRESTILE STREA, EASTON, MAJUE
F i.eld BOD NoIlfil.i:ereb) e Rc i duo
Station Lab Code No. Time
Temp Flow
(°C) (cfs)
1)0 5—day
(mg/i) (mg/i)
Turbidity
(JTU)
PT—Ol
271.83
1015
12.5
4.32
7 1
K1.2
3
PT—02
27181
1.050
11.5
3.40
9.5
4.1!
16
PT—7A
21184
1420
12.0
—
11.2
PT•-03
27180
0720
7.0
1.0.20
10.0
K1.2
PT—04
271.85
1500
—
—
].1.2
—
VAL 1
27182
0915
1.1.5
—
1.2
11.8.0
1.
1i5
Field
Total
(ing/i)
16.6
19.0
12.0
57 . 4
Fie].d
(S.U.)
Fixed
(mg/I)
6.0
7.7
4.7
20. I:
Aikal iniJ;y
(mg/i)
Chlorine
Total
Total
Ofl. &
Residuci.
Mercury
Phosphorus
Grease
Statioti
Lab
Code
No.
(mg/i)
(ug/J.)
(mg/i)
(mg/i)
PT—U]
27].83
0
1(0.5
.06
1.52.0
8.0
120.0
)‘T—02
271.8].
0
KO.5
. 8
1.15.3
8.0
l /i6.O
PT—2A
27184
PT -03
27180
0
1(0.5
.26
10.9
8.2
159.9
PT—Oh
27185
VAT,1
27].32
0
1(0.5
1.3.12
2.2
8.0
4/9.0
Note: AU. sampLc crc tahc n on September 29, 197.1, at a depth of 1.0 feet.
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s : -- S ci ns
( ‘ ‘ ‘ “T
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Lake C ir ina,
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o3 n
STXTICS -3 , j sc below the
: hlsi- g,I c
aston, L c r e
i ok 3 :str n £ro
STAT .L3N PTO..
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Lo. cot7..1strc zn £t
STATION PT2 , Old d m in
aston, Na!ne
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• i s : c.ii L
S T:o:; o3, U stf eid 3ricg
T.i st ied, •!air e
L g ps rc i f:orn
STATCN PTO3
Look n d3wnst: am from -
STATION 1 TO3
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i .O. sz=-l .ng £t STAT O ?C4
,._.._., .‘., 1 • ‘ —.
:1.L_ .,a._,
Md.rs Hill, i aine
— -—- -—----—--- —- — —-----
Loo i V : 3 i t:os frori’
STAT:ox PTO!f
-
Lookir u?stre2.rn fror
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L oki STATICN V. .L 1•
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L e Jcsep ine, Za ton, air a.
oo it-i s ;j1 &c 1 in Inc
s :cij: :a oons,
Easton, a ne
---v
south e. ‘.‘a isir.g 1r.
plant .i se 1iL-. g 1 gocn!
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