Sutter Home Winery Levels Up Wastewater Use with Reverse Osmosis

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Sutter Home Winery Levels Up Wastewater Use with Reverse Osmosis Technology Looks to Exceed Regulatory Compliance and Reduce Dependence on Groundwater

Trial Lead: Dave Sneed, utilities manager, Trinchero Family Estates Winery Dave Sneed graduated from Napa High School and worked for ve years at Napa Electric before he enlisted in the United States Navy Submarine  Force to operate and maintain advanced sonar systems. After serving eight years in the Navy, he spent years with Nestle Corp. at Calistoga Mineral Water as their facility electrician and maintenance manager. Later, Sneed was hired by Sutter Home as an electrician and moved into maintenance management where he became involved in process waste and drinking water. Twenty-six years later, he manages the utilities department for all of Trinchero Family Estate wineries within the Napa Valley.

BACKGROUND: To head off desperate water conditions, the California State Water Board introduced new wastewater discharge requirements for wineries in 2021. the goal was to protect groundwater from contamination by wastewater discharged to land. ese new laws signicantly aect how wineries manage their process water.

The regulation, known as the General Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR) for Winery Process Water (aka Winery Order2 ), was adopted on Jan. 20, 2021. Affecting more than 2,000 wineries in California, the winery order introduced a tiered system based on the volume of process water they produce. Each tier provides special discharge specications and protocols for monitoring and reporting. Larger facilities face stricter regulations, ensuring that the environmental impact is mitigated as production scales. e Winery Order targets aspects of waste process water that could negatively affect groundwater, such as nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and salinity. is regulation has raised concerns among winery owners about a signicant cost of compliance for larger operations. ese facilities were required to submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) by Jan. 20, 2024, and achieve compliance within ve years. Despite these challenges, the winery order is seen as a crucial step towards safeguarding California’s water resources amid the wine industry’s growth. The Trinchero Family’s Sutter Home Winery is a Tier 4 facility.

The Trinchero Family, winners of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance’s Green Medal for leadership in sustainability in 2021, is leading the way in efficiency once again. California is expected to pass a Direct Potable Reuse (DPR)3 bill which details standards for recycled water to be blended into public drinking water systems. This is part of legislative mandates meant to develop uniform water recycling criteria for DPR, ensuring public health protection. To achieve this level of purity, filtration technology plays an important role. Reverse osmosis filtration has been an exceptionally versatile processing technology in the wine industry. Adopted from the water treatment industry for use in wine, this equipment has been a vital tool in the winemaker’s toolbox for decades.

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Taxonomy

• RO Systems
• Reverse Osmosis