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Firms waste site wrinkles noses By STUART GORDON Pierson said Wednesday. Bee staff writer He said farmer Jerry DeGroot, MANTECA—Curds and whey who owns the property on which might sound great in a nursery the cheese factory and the waste- rhyme. water pond is located,has agreed But when it comes to living to submit a cleanup plan that will next door to a 3 million-gallon eliminate the pungent smell. pond of the stuff mixed in waste Pierson said full compliance — water, the smell is enough to another way of saying the odor bring tears to your eyes. nuisance must be gone — is ex- Just ask residents who live pected by July 1, 1992. near a pond where waste is dis- "We think it's a case of a small posed of from the A&J Foods mom-and-pop sort of operation cheese-manufacturing operation that has grown into a full-sized at 14315 S. Airport Way. industrial business without the "It is very, very bad at times," waste treatment facilities being said one neighbor who asked upgraded to keep pace," Pierson that her name not be used. "We said. have to live out here and get As a result, the wastewater '1h1AU113N3ihllilId'<iN}1Sitt?illiNIN31` along with our neighbors." pond has been overloaded with Summer evenings are the waste product from the cheese- worst, she said. making operation, he said. It's a little much when you DeGroot used to operate the have a house full of house guests cheese plant. He sold it a few in the evening during thesum- years ago to A&J Foods Inc. of mer and you have to close all the Southern California and leases windows and doors because the the plant to that firm. smell is so strong," she said. A&J Foods owner Greg Gaglio The cheese waste is disposed declined comment on the region- of through an underground pipe al water quality's charge that that leads to a pond about 1,000 waste water from the cheese feet east of Airport Way, accord- plant is the source of the odor. ing to Wayne Pierson, an engi- Chiron Corp., a pharmaceutical neer with the state Regional Wa- firm next to the cheese factory, ter Quality Control Board. produces waste water containing As much as 22,000 gallons of yeast. But state water quality offi- waste are discharged a day, cials don't believe the 2,500 gal- The board intervened in the Ions of waste Chiron produces a operation about two months ago week is the cause of the odor. after San Joaquin County health DeGroot said he isn't con- officials received numerous com- vinced that "all the odors can be plaints from Airport Way resi- blamed on the whey pond on our dents about the odors. property. Sometimes we can go "We inspected the site, and the for months without smelling any- odors are painfully obvious," thing." I