At Philip Morris USA, one of our goals is to reduce water usage and nutrients in wastewater discharge. We’ve set measurable goals, including the creation of a natural treatment system at our Park 500 facility. The system is believed to be the largest of its kind in Virginia.
At PM USA, water is a key part of our agriculturally-based product line and therefore is an important component of our environmental footprint. Our goal is to reduce our water usage and nutrients in wastewater from tobacco processing and we are pursuing this goal in a number of ways.
Our Park 500 facility, located in Chesterfield County, Va., directly withdraws water from the James River at a rate of approximately 1.8 million gallons per day. We treat the water used in this process in an on-site treatment plant before discharging it to the James River. The treated water contains substances such as nitrogen and phosphorus that are present in agricultural products like tobacco.
Since 2001, PM USA has succeeded in reducing total nitrogen loadings to the James River by evaluating and instituting operational changes to the Park 500 facility's wastewater treatment plant. We voluntarily reduced total nitrogen loadings to the river by 46 percent between 2001 and 2006.
In July 2007, Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine joined PM USA to announce an innovative project known as the Park 500 Natural Treatment System - a 48-acre engineered wetlands project aimed at further reducing nutrient levels in wastewater discharged into the James River from Park 500.
Our current discharge of nutrients to the river is well within the permit issued by the state of Virginia. Based on the system design, we anticipate that the natural treatment system will further reduce the Park 500 nitrogen output by about 13 percent and phosphorus output by 34 percent when the wetlands are fully established, perhaps as early as the summer of 2009.
In our own operations, we are evaluating ways to recycle water internally to reduce the amount we need to withdraw from municipal sources, rivers and wells. Our goal is to reduce our water usage by 15 percent by the end of 2008.
Beyond those operations under our control, PM USA encourages tobacco farmers and employees to employ sustainable practices by:
- working with Tobacco Farmer Partnering Program (TFPP) growers to implement agriculture practices that help to ensure quality tobacco and reduce the negative impact of stormwater runoff into streams and rivers
- encouraging growers to apply lime and fertilizer based on soil testing and crop needs to limit nutrient runoff; also encouraging growers to use no-till planting techniques, when they can, to reduce sediment in stormwater runoff to nearby waterways
- publishing and distributing brochures with information to help employees protect their local water supplies
- encouraging employees to participate in neighborhood stream and river clean-up efforts in communities nationwide
