Risk & Business Magazine Benson Kearley IFG Magazine Fall 2017 | Page 28

CRAFT BREWERIES
An Emerging Risk For Craft Breweries:
Wastewater
W
ith the continued rapid
growth in our Canadian
craft brewing industry,
it is important to look
at insurance and risk
management as an investment in the
protection of your reputation and business,
not just another expense on your balance
sheet.
As Program Specialist for Beverage Protect,
it is my continuing goal to inform and
educate the brewing industry on emerging
risks and areas that could impact the future
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of your business. A recent important topic
of conversation, and subject of concern, is
wastewater and wastewater management
for craft breweries. For this subject, I
reached out to one of our preferred risk
management partners, Matt Marion of
H2Flow, to provide his professional insight
regarding this important topic.
Knowing the effect this wastewater has
on the receiving location can help you
better take proactive steps to reducing the
impacts after leaving your facility.
When asked about the risks craft breweries
face when it comes to wastewater, Matt had
the following to say: Starting with the pH of your wastewater,
the pH levels from your process can vary
greatly throughout the day depending
on the process in the brewery. These pH
swings can land outside the spectrum of
acceptable limits set by the city bylaw on
both sides of the spectrum.
As a brewery, you inherently have
wastewater going down the drain. ADDRESSING THE REQUIREMENT
The local municipality has set limits to the