Surviving the Drought of 1999-2000, 2001 Environmental Conference Proceedings

R. Acker Smith, T. Brent Walley--The Georgia-Pacific Leaf River Pulp Operations mill located in southeast Mississippi began operation of an 1800 ton per day (tpd) bleached market pulp mill in 1984. Late summer and fall have typically been the dry months of the year when river flows on some years approach the Leaf River’s minimum stream flow or 7 day Q10 flow rate of 498 cubic feet per second (cfs). It was not until early fall 1999 that the river flow actually fell below minimum conditions for about a week. That event was just a short preview of what was to occur in the summer and fall of 2000 when the river flow remained below the 7 day Q10 flow rate almost the entire summer, dropping as low as 357 cfs. The extended extreme river conditions forced the mill to utilize all of its resources to conserve water, utilize its best management plan (BMP) to minimize and control spills, make bleaching changes and optimize operation of the activated sludge system. These efforts allowed the mill to sustain operations at full production rates while meeting all NPDES permit requirements and maintaining stream water quality standards.