MILLSBORO, Del. (AP) — A poultry processing company in southern Delaware has agreed to provide bottled water to local residents after elevated nitrate levels were found in private wells.

State officials say Mountaire Farms began providing bottled water to residents Thursday after sampling of wells at homes neighboring the company’s Milford processing plant and its spray irrigation fields found high levels of nitrates.

Officials say Mountaire also agreed to provide bottled water and possibly other water treatment to other areas near the plant that have the potential to be affected by nitrate contamination.

The plant was recently cited by DNREC for wastewater violations involving excessive levels of nitrates. Officials say water in several recently sampled wells was found to contain nitrates in exceedance of the national drinking water standard of 10 milligrams per liter.