P&G SEEKS PERMIT TO DISCHARGE WATER INTO RIVER

Procter & Gamble Co. has filed for a permit to discharge water into the Mississippi River.

The application is in the comment stage in the Water Pollution Control Division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in Jefferson City.

The application was filed July 10, said Phil Schroeder of the DNR's Water Pollution Control Division. "We have a 30-day period for comments," he said.

Depending on comments received, a hearing could be conducted. "All comments will be taken into consideration," said Schroeder.

Water that would go into the river would have been processed and is clean water, said P&G officials.

"We have our own sewage disposal plant on site," said Mike Jennewein, human-relations manager at P&G.

The water to be discharged would be taken from a well and used in the paper process. Once the water has been used, it would be cleaned and processed again before discharge into the river, said Jennewein. "The water will be a lot cleaner than the water in the river," he said.

P&G already has received a permit for the new well.

The well and water-discharge permit are just two of many permits needed by the plant for its $350 million expansion. Approval for an air permit was received earlier this year. The plant received a wetlands permit from the Corps of Engineers in August 1997.

The 850,000-square-foot expansion already is under way at the plant north of Cape Girardeau.

Construction to this point has been mostly ground work and site preparations, said Jennewein.

P&G announced in April 1997 that it would expand its Cape Girardeau operation to enable the production of tissues and towels. The new buildings, just north of the existing plant, will result in 20 acres under roof. The new plant will produce Bounty towels, Charmin bath tissue and Puffs tissue paper. It will employ an additional 350 people.

The current P&G plant, which has more than 1.3 million square feet or 30 acres under roof, is the largest manufacturer of disposable diapers in North America. It employs 1,325 people.

The company will build two paper machines and associated converter equipment for the plant. Each new paper machine will add approximately 65,000 tons of annual capacity. The first machine will start operations in January or February 2000.