Nestlé plans big water savings at Modesto milk plant

Nestlé plans a new use for the water it extracts in making evaporated milk in Modesto. It will be reused in the plant, with no need anymore for the city supply.

The $7 million project in the Beard Industrial District will be the first of its kind in the United States, said Tim Brown, a Nestlé executive based in Stamford, Conn. The first phase aims for a 70 percent reduction in city water use by the end of 2016.

“Ultimately, our goal is to get 100 percent of our needs met without drawing on the local sources,” he said.

The projected annual savings of about 63 million gallons is just 0.4 percent of the city supply, but anything would help if the now 4-year-old drought goes on.

Modesto uses about 17 billion gallons in a typical year, Utilities Director Larry Parlin said. Some comes from the Tuolumne River and the rest from wells.

The Nestlé plant’s 100-plus employees make evaporated milk under the Nestlé Carnation brand – an average of 1.5 million pounds per day. The canned products are sold through retail and food-service channels to bakers and other users across the nation. The plant also makes condensed skim milk for Nestlé ice cream plants elsewhere.

The Garner Road site is the only evaporated milk plant in the nation for Nestlé, a global company involved in candy, frozen food, pet food and many other products. It acquired the Carnation brand in 1985 and completed the Modesto plant in 1992, replacing a Gustine operation that dated to the 1920s.

Evaporated milk was invented in Kent, Wash., in 1899 by Carnation founder Elbridge Amos Stuart. Among the fruits of the company’s success is the Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation, a major supporter of education, health and other causes in the Modesto area.

The water Nestlé plans to reclaim is produced when milk from dairy farms is heated to reduce its volume. The water will be treated and replace city supplies now used for steam generation, cooling and cleaning.

The company also is planning water-saving projects at ice cream plants in Tulare and Bakersfield, as well as at five bottled-water plants around the state. Nestlé has come under scrutiny during the drought for bottling California water. It aims to increase efficiency on the filling line and in landscaping and other uses at these plants.

Brown is president and chief executive officer of Nestlé Waters North America, which includes Arrowhead, Perrier and several other brands. He does not oversee the dairy plants but is serving as spokesman for their water-conservation projects.

Nestlé has a milk-drying plant in Mexico that already has gone to zero water consumption.

“Technology we have already deployed successfully elsewhere in the world to help address the challenges of water scarcity will improve our water use efficiency, relieving pressure on California’s water resources,” said José Lopez, head of operations for the company, in a news release.

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Nestlé plans big water savings at Modesto milk plant."