SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE

Home Browse Search

CALIFORNIA REGIONAL WATER QUALITY CONTROL BOARD CENTRAL VALLEY REGION ACL COMPLAINT NO. R5-2002-0502 ADMINISTRATIVE CIVIL LIABILITY IN THE MATTER OF MUSCO OLIVE PRODUCTS AND THE STUDLEY COMPANY SAN JOAQUINCOUNTY This Administrative Civil Liability Complaint (hereafter Complaint) is issued to Musco Olive Products and The Studley Company(hereafter jointly referred to as "Discharger")based on failure to comply with enforcement orders issued pursuant to Article 1, Chapter 5 of the California Water Code (CWC). This Complaint is issued pursuant to Sections 13350 and 13268 of the CWC, which authorize the imposition of administrative civil liability. 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. Musco Olive Products owns and operates an olive brining and packaging facility south of the town of Tracy, near Patterson Pass Road in San Joaquin County. The facility(Assessor's Parcel Number 251-3200-08) is in Section 4, T3S, R4E, MDB&M. Musco Olive Products operates the facility on land leased from the Studley Company, a California Limited Partnership. 2. Wastewater generated at the facility is regulated by two separate Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs) Orders. Order No. 96-075 regulates the Title 27 Class H surface impoundments that are used to store concentrated brines,while Order No. 97-037, adopted by the Regional Board on 28 February 1997, regulates the less concentrated wastewater which is applied to land. This Complaint pertains only to violations of Order No. 97-037. 3. The facility processes olives year-round and generates several wastewater streams. Waste lye solutions,pit floatation brine, and rinse water all have high total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations, and are discharged to either of two Class II surface impoundments for evaporation. WASTE GENERATION AND DISPOSAL 4. Approximately 600,000 gallons per day of retort cooling water, wash waters (including weak lye solutions), acetic acid storage solutions, pitting machine wastewater, and cannery floor wastewater are collected and transferred to an unlined one-million-gallon storage pond,where primary settling occurs. The wastewater is then pumped to land application areas. 5. Based on the Discharger's self monitoring data for the period cited in this Complaint, the average biochemical oxygen demand(BOD) of the wastewater discharged to the land application areas was 3,000 mg/L, and the average concentration of dissolved inorganic solids (DIS) was 2,600 mg/L. WDRs Order No. 97-037 limits the BOD to a daily maximum of 3,176 mg/1 and the DIS to a daily maximum of 1,340 mg/l. During the period cited in this Complaint, the Discharger exceeded the daily maximum values for both BOD and DIS.