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2. The water quality will be less than or equal to the water quality of ground water beneath the site. <br /> Therefore, there is no need to require an engineered surface impoundment to store the production <br /> wastewater. The most effective and economical way to dispose of this additional wastewater is to <br /> spray irrigate as a land discharge. <br /> 3.2 PROPOSED PROJECT <br /> 1 . The site to be used for irrigation purposes contains predominantly clay soils with slopes ranging <br /> from 8% to 20%. The 200 acre parcel size has been selected to allow for the most efficient <br /> operation of an irrigation system without generating any runoff as a result of the irrigation. The <br /> operator proposes to incorporate two fundamental agricultural concepts into the project to operate <br /> the system more efficiently. <br /> 2. The operator will incorporate up to 150,000 tons of mulch into the root zone at the site to improve <br /> the holding capacity of the soil. Furthermore, this will reduce the tendency for the soil to <br /> recompact and reseal itself with regards to the penetration of moisture. A benefit of the project is <br /> that it will consume 150,000 tons of mulch produced by "green waste" facilities in compliance <br /> with AB 939 landfill diversion requirements. <br /> 3. Once this is accomplished,the operator will cultivate plants which have the ability to grow in the <br /> quality of water which is produced by the olive plant. The crops chosen will be tolerant of the <br /> high total dissolved water(TDS), sodium,and chloride. The factory water has been tested in <br /> comparison to on-site well water which would otherwise be used to irrigate crops in this area. The <br /> Musco Olive#1 production well encountered artesian water at 250 feet bgs with a static head at 50 <br /> feet bgs. Based on a single sampling event in February 1996, water quality for this well showed <br /> chloride (514 mg/L), sulfate (400 mg/L), sodium (477 mg/L), total dissolved solids (1434 mg/L), <br /> electrical conductivity (2240µmhos/cm), and a pH of 7.8. The operator proposes to spray irrigate <br /> reclaimed water that contains an average of 1280 mg/l TDS,456 mg/l sodium, and 228 mg/l <br /> chloride. Therefore, the quality of the ground water and the quality of the irrigation water are <br /> equal. <br /> 4. As part of the spray irrigation timing, the operator proposes a maximum application rate of 0.5 <br /> inches per application with a 3 day resting period between applications and precipitation events. <br /> Musco Olive proposes field testing to monitor the application rates in order to prevent surface <br /> runoff. Irrigation will be limited to those times when it is not raining. Application rates will be <br /> less than the infiltration rate and storage capacity of the soil in order to prevent surface water <br /> runoff. After accounting for the irrigation water constituents, the quality of the runoff which <br /> would exit the site in a precipitation event is not substantially different than the quality which left <br /> the site as runoff prior to the project. <br /> 5. The reclaimed water proposed for discharge has the following characteristics (average): <br /> Constituent Waste Water Loading Ratet <br /> Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 1280 mg/L 20 lbs/acre/day <br /> Sodium 456 mg/L 9 lbs/acre/day <br /> Chloride 228 mg/L 5 lbs/acre/day <br /> BOD 2000 mg/L 100 lbs/acre/day <br /> Nitrogen 1 mg/L 10 lbs/acre/year <br /> Conductivity 2500µmhos/cm --- <br /> Based on an application rate of 500,000 gpd <br /> -4- <br />