Water & Wastewater

Quality Water for Quality Products

How HBPW supports an iconic brand in making great products.

Featuring everything from ketchup to pickles, Heinz products are likely a staple on your dinner table. What you might not know is that several of their brands are made right here in Holland. Heinz has been a valued part of the Holland community since 1897, originally producing pickles and vinegar. They have since expanded and now produce a variety of sauces at the Holland plant including mustard, BBQ sauces, and soon Grey Poupon. Located right off of 16^th street, Heinz’s utilities are provided by the Holland Board of Public Works.

“We use city water in everything from sanitation to production,” Marena Rash, Project Engineer at Heinz said. “It’s crucial that we have dependable, quality, clean water.” Holland Board of Public Works is proud to meet the standards.

Heinz takes their duty to provide safe, quality food seriously and sanitizes diligently. When they mix up 10,000 lb batches of condiments in their sauce kitchen, they sanitize the sauce tanks between productions. The sauce kitchen produces up to 10 batches in 12 hours, cleaning between batches by spraying and filling the tanks with sanitizer water while running the high speed mixer.

Heinz pickles experience city water first hand by taking a dip in the desalting bath before they move to packaging. The pickles are transferred to one of sixteen desalting tanks. The tanks are first filled with water, cushioning the fall as pickles are poured in. Once the tank is full, workers turn on the blowers at the bottom of the tank. The air bubbles circulate the pickles and wash off the salt. Depending on the pickle variety, desalting can take anywhere from 36 hours for saltier varieties to 72 hours for sweeter pickles.

Water from the desalting and sanitation processes travels down to Heinz’s wastewater treatment center for pretreatment before going to the BPW’s Water Reclamation facility. Gravity moves the water to its first stop, which is a 40,000-gallon tank on the lowest point of the property. The tank features an air blower grid to reduce sediment build up and a 600 gallon/minute pump that lifts the water towards the treatment center.

“We’re proud to have a dedicated, qualified wastewater treatment team on staff at the plant,” Marena said. The certified wastewater treatment team’s first step at the pretreatment center is to remove any solids. Next, the water moves to a pretreatment tank. The team monitors the pH and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) levels and uses magnesium hydroxide to lower acid levels if needed. Along with their digital monitoring system, the team tests the water by hand throughout the day making sure it meets compliance and can head to the HBPW’s Water Reclamation facility.

The water from the plant’s heating and cooling systems doesn’t require the same treatment. Instead Heinz can put the water right back where it came from, Lake Macatawa. Heinz uses sodium bisulfite to eliminate any remaining chlorine from the water before putting the chemical-free water back into the lake. The clean, warm outfall is home to many turtles and minnows who love the warmth and water movement. “We’re glad that through our responsible efforts, we can add clean water back into the lake,” said Marena.