SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE_CASE 2

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�./ 141W Response to Written Comments -33- 24 April 2007 City of Tracy WWTP San Joaquin County ENVIRONMENTAL LAW FOUNDATION (ELF) ELF — NPDES COMMENT #1: ELF asserts that the Tentative Order does not comply with State Water Board Resolution 68-16 ("Statement of Policy with Respect to Maintaining High Quality of Waters in California") and the federal antidegradation policy (40 C.F.R. 131.12). The commenter asserts that the order would allow an increase in mass loading of certain constituents that are not allowed by the two policies and allow degradation without making appropriate findings. The commenter also asserts that the public process is inadequate. RESPONSE: The Tentative Order complies with the antidegradation policies. The Regional Board agrees that the federal and state antidegradation policies are triggered if the discharge could result in degradation. In this case, the Tentative Order would authorize an expansion of the facility, which could result in degradation of water quality. The federal antidegradation, where it applies, does not prohibit any change in water quality, but requires that changes be justified based on a three-part test. The first part of the test is that existing instream uses must be maintained. Tentative Order requires compliance with applicable federal technology-based standards and with effluent limits where the discharge could have the reasonable potential to cause or contribute to an exceedance of water quality standards. The Tentative Order is significantly more stringent than the previous order; it requires implementation of tertiary treatment, which is in excess of federal technology-based standards, and will result in the addition of nitrification and denitrification facilities. The Tentative Order does not allow the discharger to increase the mass loading of salinity despite expansion of the facility. Due to the increase in treatment requirements, the Tentative Order will result in maintenance of existing instream uses. The commenter has provided no evidence to the contrary. The second part of the test is that degradation of high quality waters is allowed if the state finds that allowing lower water quality is necessary to accommodate important economic or social development in the area in which the waters are located, which is a balancing test. In this case, as documented in the Fact Sheet, the City of Tracy is growing and continued treatment of its wastewater is necessary to protect water quality and accommodate growth. The Regional Board does not have the jurisdiction to control growth in the City of Tracy, but is required to assure that the discharge is adequately treated. Tertiary and advanced wastewater treatment required by the Tentative Order is a very high level of treatment. As demonstrated in the Fact Sheet at pages F 77-79, the discharge will result in insignificant additional impacts on water quality. The Fact Sheet contains detailed information about each constituent of concern in the waste discharge and what changes in the discharge may occur for each constituent. Table F-1 lists the pollutants of concern and the corresponding effluent concentrations and mass loadings. The effluent concentrations for all constituents will remain the same or decrease and the increase in mass for some constituents will increase only very slightly and for Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region Board Meeting —3/4 May 2007 Item#17