More breweries equal more wastewater — and more fees

Central Oregon loves craft beer, but to make beer, lots of water is needed. And lots of water means lots of wastewater.

Breweries are roughly equal to dairies, distilleries and slaughterhouses, in terms of the amount of wastewater generated.

Chasen Schultz, the head brewer at RiverBend Brewing in Bend, says before the wastewater goes down the drain, there is an initial treatment.

“We actually have a wastewater collection bin, where it will collect all the fluids going down our drain,” Schultz said Tuesday. “From there, we treat those fluids, make sure our pH is neutral so it’s safe to go down in the sewer.”

But that’s not quite enough. Breweries still have to pay an “extra-strength charge,” or ESC, for wastewater to be treated at the city of Bend’s wastewater plant.

Those charges go toward paying recovery costs at the plant, said Gillian Ockner, senior policy analyst with the city.

“So a customer like a restaurant or a brewery sends water into our wastewater system that has more stuff in it than a residential customer,” she said. “So based on our cost to treat that at our plant, we charge more per unit of water put into our system.”

Typically, it’s about a 4-to-1 ratio, when it comes to beer-making and water. To make 1,000 gallons of beer, which is equal to only 32 barrels of beer, about 4,000 gallons of water is needed.

Currently, breweries pay $9.36 per 100 cubic feet (or 748 gallons) of water.

And that’s a 49 percent increase from last year, when they were paying $6.28.

RiverBend Brewing says the increase shouldn’t make much of a difference for them.

“Being as small as we are, I wouldn’t say it affects us as much as the bigger guys,” Schultz said. “Our prices are not going to change because of anything like this, at least not in the near future.”

City officials say not all breweries fall into the same category. They submit samples and are put into groups, based on the strength of their wastewater and output.

More city information about the ESC program can be found at http://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/utilities/industrial-pretreatment/extra-strength-program