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DRAFT Staff Report' -2- Administrative Civil Liability Complaint Rodney and Gayla Schatz dba Mokelumne Rim Vineyards San Joaquin County Compliance with WDRs The wastewater system doesn't comply with the specifications normally required of other winery wastewater systems. For example, the wastewater pond does not provide adequate storage capacity, is not equipped with adequate aeration, and the pond is not lined as described in the 31 July 2001 RWD. • The 7 June 2005 Response to 30 August 2004 Notice of Violation (prepared by Ascend Innovations) stated: "This evaluation does indicate that the existing pond does not contain adequate storage capacity for the Phase I or Phase II flows. It is necessary to increase the pond volume to approximately 532,000 gallons at freeboard level to maintain compliance with the effluent limits." • The aeration is described as inadequate in the Ascend Innovations report as follows: "This method of aeration is not common and is not expected to conform to the conventional sizing approach identified above." Although the Discharger stated during a meeting on 20 October 2005 that he had recently installed an aeration device, no monitoring has been conducted to show whether it is adequate to maintain the dissolved oxygen above the 1.0 mg/1 concentration required by the WDRs. • The wastewater pond is not lined as described in the 31 July 2001 RWD. The failure to correct the wastewater system inadequacies has resulted in violations of the WDRs that were noted by staff when reviewing the Discharger's self-monitoring reports and are discussed in subsequent Notices of Violation (NOVs). The violations include, but are not limited to,the following: 1. The January and February 2005 monitoring reports indicate that wastewater in the pond possessed inadequate dissolved oxygen. In both months, dissolved oxygen concentrations were below 1.0 mg/L. Discharge Specification B.6 requires the dissolved oxygen concentration to be at least 1.0 mg/L. Inadequate dissolved oxygen concentrations indicate inadequate aeration is available in the pond. The Discharger's 7 June 2005 response to the Regional Board's 30 August 2004 Notice of Violation (NOV) confirmed this condition. WDR Provision Lb required an analysis of the need for pond aeration and installation of needed aeration by 1 September 2004. This requirement was restated in the NOV. The Discharger stated in a 12 September 2005 correspondence, "For your records aeration is installed." At this time staff has no information on the type of aeration system installed. In a 20 October 2005 meeting, the Discharger informed staff that two nozzle-aeration devices have been installed. Because such devices are not normally used in winery wastewater ponds and there is a lack of monitoring, no analysis of the adequacy of the system can be made. 2. The wastewater pond possessed inadequate freeboard in February 2005. Discharge Specification B.13 requires a minimum of two feet of freeboard at all times. Inadequate freeboard may indicate that the pond is too small. The Discharger's 7 June 2005 response to the Regional Board's 30 August 2004 NOV confirmed that the pond is too small. Discharge Specification B.14 requires the wastewater system to have sufficient capacity to accommodate wastewater flow and precipitation. WDR Provision G.Lb required a schedule for construction of improvements, which has not been received. Discharge of wastewater from overfilling the pond is a violation of the WASta1110brienTVSan]oaquinVdokelm me Rim VincyardMC1.Sept OASleff ReponDOC