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Neenah Paper,Inc. July 27,2010 <br /> First-Half 2010 Groundwater-Monitoring Report Page 5 of 7 <br /> Site Descriptions and Operations <br /> Neenah Paper FR LLC. <br /> The NP site is located next to the Stanislaus River in Ripon, California. There is an electric- <br /> power cogeneration plant adjacent to the Mill. <br /> Previously, both the Mill and the Cogen plant were owned by Simpson Paper Company; now, <br /> however, the cogen plant is owned by Fort Chicago US Power Inc. The Cogen plant contributes <br /> approximately 300,000 gallons of water containing approximately 1,000 mg/L TDS to NP's <br /> waste stream per day. It should be noted that NP has no direct control of the operations of the <br /> Cogen plant or the quality or quantity of wastewater it receives from the cogen plant. <br /> Mill operations have been described in the WDR and other documents. Briefly, prior to its <br /> closure, the Mill manufactured several grades of fine papers from purchased pulps. Process <br /> water was added to the pulps to make a slurry which then was made into paper. Effluent from <br /> this process, along with some regeneration brine from the cogen plant,was collected and <br /> discharged into a primary clarifier. The mill ceased manufacturing paper on May 22, 2009, and <br /> has no plans for resuming operations. Now that the mill is idle, it no longer produces an <br /> effluent stream. <br /> Currently, the regeneration brine from the cogen plant still is discharged to the clarifier where it <br /> is blended with low TDS water from PW-6 before being discharged into two aeration basins, in <br /> sequence (ASB-1 and ASB-2). The first pond, ASB-1, is approximately 14 feet deep and is <br /> lined; the second, ASB-2, is unlined and approximately 5 feet deep. Effluent from ASB-2 is <br /> pumped to irrigation and percolation fields around the site. <br /> Other ponds on the site (labeled Ponds 1 through 4) are unlined and used only to contain excess <br /> waste water in case of a system upset or a 100-year-or-greater storm event. <br /> Inert dewatered sludge from the clarifier and aeration basins was discharged to a lined sludge <br /> disposal area with a leachate-collection system. Leachate from the sludge pond is pumped back <br /> into the clarifier. The site also contains an inactive "closed" sludge disposal unit. <br /> City of Ripon <br /> The City of Ripon operates a MWWTF adjacent to the southwest quadrant of the NP site. The <br /> MWWTF treats an average of 1,000,000 gallons of domestic effluent a day. The system <br /> consists of a series of clay-lined ponds with surface mechanical aeration system to oxygenate <br /> the waste water. Treated effluent water is disposed by percolation from 45 acres of disposal <br /> ponds. The City is currently under directive from the CVRWQCB to evaluate the impacts of <br /> effluent disposal on groundwater quality. <br /> Nestles <br /> Nestles USA formerly operated an instant coffee and tea processing plant, located <br /> approximately 2,000 feet north of the NP site, from 1948 through 1986. Solvents used in the <br /> decaffeination process, and their daughter products (trichloroethene, dichloroethene, and vinyl <br /> chloride)have impacted soils at the site and groundwater throughout the Ripon area. Nestles' <br /> consultant, Environmental Cost Management, currently operates two groundwater-treatment <br /> systems in the area to remediate the contaminant plumes. The plumes have impacted the upper <br /> and intermediate aquifers along the northern and western portions of the NP site. <br /> 005194.04 Task 4 Lawrence&Associates <br /> W.•I CLIENTSIFoxRiver-NeenahlQuarterlyMonitoringl201011st half 2010 reporkdoc <br />