SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE CASE 2

Home Browse Search

WASTE DISCHARGE REQUIREMENTS ORDER NO. -6- PAT MITCHELL AND CALIFORNIA NATURAL PRODUCTS WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL FACILITY SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY to be a Conditional Industry. The Discharger has completed and filed a Notice of Non-Applicability that certifies that storm water associated with industrial activity does not discharge to waters of the United States. This stormwater is treated and disposed of with process wastewater. 36. Surrounding land uses are primarily industrial, agricultural, and residential. 37. The Board adopted a Water Quality Control Plan, Fourth Edition, for the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River Basins (hereafter Basin Plan), which contains water quality objectives for all waters of the Basin. These requirements implement the Basin Plan. 38. Surface water drainage is to the San Joaquin River. 39. The beneficial uses of the San Joaquin River are municipal and agricultural supply, industrial process and service supply, contact and other noncontact recreation, warn and coldwater freshwater habitat, wane and cold migration habitat, warm water spawning, wildlife habitat, and navigation. 40. The beneficial uses of underlying groundwater are domestic and municipal supply, agricultural supply, industrial service supply, and industrial process supply. 41. According to Pollution Abatement in the Fruit and Vegetable Industry, published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency(US EPA Publication No. 625/3-77-0007) (hereafter Pollution Abatement), in applying food-processing wastewater to land for biological treatment, loadings of total suspended solids (TSS) shall not exceed 70 lbs/acre/day and loadings of BODS should not exceed 100 lbs/acre/day(average) to prevent development of nuisance conditions. 42. Pollution Abatement recommends that water applied to crops shall have a pH within 6.4 to 8.4 to protect crops from being damaged by food processing wastewater. Acidic soil conditions (i.e., pH below 5.5) can be detrimental to certain bacteria which perform conversions of organic matter and nitrogen. If soil pH decreases below 5, iron and manganese may become solubilized and degrade underlying groundwater if the buffering capacity of the soil is exceeded. 43. Excessive application of wastewater in the designated disposal area can create objectionable odors, soil conditions detrimental to crops, and degradation of underlying groundwater by overloading the shallow soil profile and causing undesired levels of pollutants percolating below the root zone to degrade the groundwater. Such overloading can create public nuisance and leach waste constituents. Depending on actual ambient groundwater quality, such leaching could classify the wastewater as designated waste and require full containment under Title 27. 44. The Board has considered anti-degradation pursuant to State Board Resolution No. 68-16 and finds that not enough data exists to determine whether this discharge is consistent with those provisions. Therefore, this Order provides a schedule for data collection to determine whether the discharge will cause an increase in groundwater constituents above that of background levels. If the discharge is causing such an increase, then the Discharger may be required to cease the discharge, implement source control, change the method of disposal, or take other action to prevent groundwater degradation. C.YRti FIuWmC.l N.1-1-DRI