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CALIFORNIA REGIONAL WATER QUALITY CONTROL BOARD CENTRAL VALLEY REGION ACL COMPLAINT NO. R5-2004-0535 ADMINISTRATIVE CIVIL LIABILITY COMPLAINT IN THE MATTER OF CITY OF STOCKTON SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY This complaint is issued to the City of Stockton, (hereafter Discharger)based on a finding of the discharge of pollutants without waste discharge requirements, a violation of Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 301 and California Water Code (CWC) Section 13376,pursuant to CWC Section 13385, which authorizes the imposition of Administrative Civil Liability, and CWC Section 13323, which authorizes the Executive Officer to issue this complaint. The Executive Officer of the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region (Regional Board) finds, with respect to the Discharger's acts, or failure to act, the following: 1. The City of Stockton (hereafter Discharger)provides water service to the residents of the City of Stockton. The Discharger contracts with OMI/Thames Water Stockton(OMI) for operation and maintenance of the service, including water supply well installation and development. OMI subcontracts some of its work to other companies. 2. The Discharger had completed construction of a municipal water well (adjacent to a lot identified as 3871 Ivano Lane) within a new housing development. On 17 March 2004, Humbolt Drilling & Pump Co., a contractor for OMI, pumped a 12.5% sodium hypochlorite solution into the well as a routine process to disinfect the well after construction. Once the disinfection process was complete, the Discharger needed to remove and dispose of the chlorinated wastewater and did so by discharging from 0730 Ins to 1130 hrs into Woodbridge Irrigation District South Main Canal, which has been determined to be waters of the United States. 3. On 18 March 2004, at 1310 Ins,the Discharger notified the Office of Emergency Services (OES Report# 04-1508)that 480,000 gallons of chlorinated water had been discharged by a contractor into an irrigation canal maintained by Woodbridge Irrigation District, and that a fish kill had occurred. At that time the Discharger reported 10 dead fish had been observed. 4. The Department of Fish and Game inspected the discharge location on 18 March 2004, over 24-hours after the incident had taken place. The warden reported the South Main Canal water to be very clear with a pH approximately 8.0 and also noted the presence of four dead fish with no signs of living aquatic life. 5. On 23 March 2004,the Regional Board received a report from OMI providing details of the discharge that occurred on 17 March 2004. OMI reported that approximately 480,000 gallons of groundwater containing approximately 40 gallons of 12.5% sodium hypochlorite solution was discharged to Woodbridge Irrigation District South Main Canal. The calculated average chlorine dose for the entire discharge is 11.4 mg/1. However,the majority of chlorine would have been expelled in the first few well volumes discharged. The USEPA National Ambient Water Quality Criteria to prevent acute (lethal) effects from chlorine is 0.019 mg/l, a 1-hour average. The