Sewage from Grand Island JBS plant contaminates Platte, Wood rivers

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - A state agency says a failure at a JBS wastewater facility sent millions of gallons of sewage away from the plant and into the Platte and Wood rivers.

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy said in a press release that an anaerobic wastewater lagoon breached early Saturday morning. Four million gallons of wastewater discharged from the lagoon. Two million gallons left the property and went into a ditch that leads into the Wood River. By 3 p.m. Saturday NDEE inspectors observed the waste water in the Wood River. And on Sunday inspectors observed the sewage in the Platte River, some 15 miles river miles from the JBS plant.

NDEE says JBS stopped operations at 6:45 a.m. Saturday and notified the state at 8 a.m. NDEE said JBS contracted a clean-up company on Sunday and eight vacuum trucks were seen on site by state inspectors.

Local4 contacted JBS for comment and received this statement Monday night from corporate spokesperson Nikki Richardson in the company’s Greeley, CO, headquarters:

“On Saturday morning, an issue with a wastewater lagoon at our Grand Island, Neb., beef production facility caused a release of partially treated wastewater. JBS took immediate action to reduce any impacts and has been coordinating with state and federal officials, and working with third-party contractors to handle remediation and cleanup activities, and advise on repairs and preventive measures. The release has been stopped, and the plant is open and operating normally today.”

NDEE said it was not aware of any immediate health risks but recommended avoiding all direct contact with the impacted stream segments until more information was available.

NDEE is monitoring JBS and collecting water samples upstream and downstream of the discharge to determine the exact impact of the wastewater discharge.

Here is the full statement from NDEE: