California water regulators fined Morning Star Packing Company $1.5 million this week for the unauthorized expansion of two wastewater ponds and wrongful disposal of approximately 266 million gallons of wastewater.
According to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, investigators discovered a wastewater cooling pond had expanded from 60 to 100 acres and contained unauthorized discharge of tomato waste. Other violations include “the failure to address continuing groundwater pollution; operation of an unpermitted silage operation; the unauthorized expansion of the settling pond; and the creation of objectionable odors that were detected beyond the property boundaries.”