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Marley Cooling Tower Company Groundwater Treatment System San Joaquin County Inspection Report February 7, 2003 caused the caustic pH adjustment pump to operate despite the fact that the actual pH level was not low. Moreover, because the meter signal was "frozen" and sending a false "low pH" signal, it did not activate the system shutdown feature as it was designed to do. MCTC staff took immediate measures to correct this condition. Repairs were made by resetting and recalibrating the pH probe and meter. Additionally, the caustic pump was replaced. Approx. The system was restored and operating within permit conditions at 7:00 pm approximately 7:OOpm that day. 9/18/02 Approx. 6:00 * A local resident out walking his dog on the levee above the canal noted that to 7:00 pm "all the fish were dead ". The resident also noted various types of dead fish floating at the Highway 99/Waterloo Road bridge. The resident's wife contacted DeltaKeeper's office later that evening by telephone and left a message. 9/19/02 Sometime in * Kari Morgan/(DeltaKeeper's Monitoring Coordinator) responded to the call the am and visited the water's edge at the Waterloo Road & Highway 99 bridge and observed 20-30 dead fish and one crayfish in distress. 1:00 pm * Ms. Morgan reported the incident to the DFG, and began taking field pH readings with a multimeter. She also collected samples of dead fish and water. * While she was sampling, a jogger told her that the majority of the dead fish were about 200-300 yards upstream of Hwy 99. She went to that location (the weir location) and observed approximately 800 to 1000 dead fish on the weir, in the water and along the banks of the canal. 1:32 pm * Ms. Morgan called DFG again, with an update of the new location. 2:00 pm * Ms. Lori Oldfather, a warden with DFG arrived on scene at the weir location, and estimated the number of fish killed in that location as 1000 or more. * Warden Oldfather began to look for a point source upstream, and went to the discharge pipe, which was later ascertained to be the discharge pipe from the MCTC site. * Ms. Morgan and Warden Oldfather collected field measurement at the discharge point (pH 8.96) and upstream (pH 8.01), indicating that the source was the outfall discharge. * San Joaquin County Environmental Health staff joined in the field investigation. The discharge was determined to be coming from the MCTC site, and Warden Oldfather and the County staff went to the MCTC site. A hazardous materials specialist from the OES arrived on -scene. * Warden Oldfather contacted David Lieb of MCTC and notified him that the pH in the canal was elevated and that there had been a fish kill. MCTC staff shut down the treatment plant. 4:59 pm * The discharge from the outfall slowed dramatically and then stopped. 6:30 pm * DeltaKeeper released the water and effluent samples to the County staff, and stored the fish samples in the freezer in the DeltaKeeper office. 9 Approved: