Beaulieu Vineyard fined for wastewater release

An Upvalley winery is facing fines after it allowed wastewater to flow into the state storm drain system twice.

The Napa County district attorney’s office filed suit against Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines, owner of  Beaulieu Vineyard, this week, alleging it allowed a total of 8,700 gallons of waste water to enter state-owned waters since September 2008.
The company faced a maximum of $60,000 in penalties for the violations, but the case has resolved with the winery paying roughly $15,000. A judgment against Diageo, also filed this week, requires it to pay $2,500 in restitution to the district attorney’s office Hazardous Waste Fund, a $10,000 civil penalty and a total of $2,768.26 for reimbursement of investigative costs to the Department of Fish and Game and the county Department of Environmental Management.

The winery has an on-site sewage disposal system for its winery waste water, which is designed to allow rain to flow away from its sewage disposal system and into the state’s storm drain system.
A diversion valve was left open after rainfall in September 2008, according to court documents.

As a result, on Sept. 18, 2008, the winery discharged 8,000 gallons of waste water into the state’s storm drain system, the documents say. Then on Jan. 27, 2009, another 700 gallons were released into the system.
Storm drains ultimately empty into local waterways, Napa County Deputy District Attorney Daryl Roberts  said.

Fish have a hard time surviving in streams polluted with wine waste, because smaller inhabitants of the stream eat the waste and deplete the water of oxygen, Roberts said.

“That’s a lot of wine (waste), and you put it in that little stream, and it’s going to pretty much kill anything in that stream,” he said.

Maire Griffin, spokeswoman for Beaulieu Vineyard, said the winery’s stormwater valve was inadvertently left open.

Griffin said the vineyard notified the appropriate agencies as soon as they knew of the error.

“We have been working with those authorities to make sure we are improving all our waste water management,” she said.

She said the winery has been recognized by the California Integrated Waste Management Board’s Waste Reduction Awards Program for the past 17 years. “At BV, we are really committed to making sure that we are environmentally responsible,” she said.