SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE

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`.r vftwoe Beginning with the 1997 packing season, both facilities started using the sodium hypochlorite. The aggregate volume of water discharged each day is approximately 12,000 gallons. With the gas chlorine system, chlorine levels ranged from 100 to 120 ppm and occasionally up to 160 ppm. With sodium hypochlorite, the chlorine levels are more easily monitored and carefully control at 60 to 70 ppms. This level significantly reduces the chlorine load, which the treatment plant must remove. In this regard, Triple E has progressively, in each packing season, implemented new and proven packing technologies to maintain our position of leadership in our industry. Annual Operating Days and Volume of Water Discharged For each of the years listed below, the number of operating days and the volume of water discharged is reported. Gallons Water Acre-feet to Year Season Season Days Discharged Dedicated Spray Start End Packing (million) (°) Field 1995 (a) (a) 95 1.14 3.49 1996 June 22 November 16 105 1.26 3.86 1997 June 21 November 16 105 1.26 38.6 1998 July 11 November 28 77 0.924 2.83 (a) Triple E did not track days until 1996. Esfresh did not track until 1997. The Esfresh packing days essentially mirror Triple E's. (b) Estimated from overall average. (c) Discharge based on 12,000 gallons per packing day. Aggregate volume of Triple E and Esfresh. Overviewof of Water Treatment At the end of the packing day, the wash tanks are drained and cleaned. The water is piped to the treatment plant for air sparing and treatment with sodium bisulfite to reduce the initial chlorine load. The water is then filtered through 5-micron mesh bag filters to remove suspended solids, which are primarily particles of soil. The final treatment is additional air sparing followed by high-efficiency air stripping. Dedicated Spray Field Operation The soil of the spray field is predominately deep gravelly clay loam to gravelly loam with moderately slow permeability. The available water holding capacity is 0.1 to 0.15 inches/inch and the water intake rate when irrigated is 0.5 inches per hour. Under the design of the spray field the soil is seldom wetted to depth greater that 1.5 inches. The daily volume of treated water is discharged to a 1.4 acre dedicated spray field using low-volume, micro- sprinklers. The spray field is divided into 8 sets. Each set is sequenced by a controller to operate 45 minutes per day. The spray field operating time is 6 hours per day. The application not to exceed 12,240 gallons per day is equivalent to .032 inches per acre per day. Volatilization and evaporation at the soil surface are two operative processes. Evaporative loss is estimated to range from 0.55 inches per day in July to 0.14 inches per day in October. The mean evaporatative loss of the