DeKALB | The DeKalb Sanitary District is giving Cavel International a chance to avoid another violation.

Cavel, one of three horse-slaughter plants still in operation in the country, reopened for business in 2004 after a fire in 2002 burned the old facility to the ground. The company has since been docked more than $25,000 in fines as a result of violated regulations.

“DeKalb Sanitary District issues a permit to Cavel,” said Michael Zima, district manager for the DeKalb Sanitary District. “Some of the parameters in their permit have been in exceedance of their limits. Fines have progressively increased since 2004 when they reopened.”

Cavel general manager James D. Tucker said difficulties with their pre-treatment system have contributed to the problem.

“For about 10 years, we had a system that worked very well,” Tucker said. “When we rebuilt, we thought we could use the same system. It was a different vender, and because of the design of the plan, I think we used more water than we used to.”

The DeKalb Sanitary District measures for biological oxygen demand, or total of suspended solids, pneumonia, and pH level. The plant’s BOD is the main pollutant problem because it is mainly blood protein that needs to be broken down and filtered out, Tucker said.

“We’ve been treating it, and to a certain level it has gone down, but we haven’t been able to get it below requirements,” Tucker said.

Tucker said he recognized the need for an alternative and saw to the construction of a biological aerobic digester, in which pollutants are eaten up by aerobic bugs.

“We’ve been working on the system for about a year now,” Tucker said. “The new system is bigger and more reliable.”

Tucker said he understands the Sanitary District’s need to enforce permit standards.

“We’ve had a discharge agreement with them since 1992 which requires us to meet certain levels,” Tucker said. “Hopefully, this will solve it. It’s a complex system, and consultants have told us in various forms that using an aerobic digester is a very reliable and recognizable method.”

The aerobic digester planned is a 25 thousand gallon tank in which organisms will eat pollutants in the waste water.

Tucker said the system is very similar to the Sanitary District’s system.

“When they built their new facility, it was state of the art,” Zima said. “We hope everything will be up and running by the end of March, and they will be in compliance with their discharge permit.”

If the Cavel plant is unable to meet sanitation requirements, Zima said the sanitary district can go beyond fines and actually shut the plant down.