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INFORMATION SHEET WASTE DISCHARGE REQUIREMENTS GOLDEN GATE FRESH FOODS, INC. VICTOR FINE FOODS TREATMENT PLANT AND CLASS II SURFACE IMPOUNDMENT SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY Golden Gate Fresh Foods, Inc. , doing business as Victor Fine Foods, owns and operates a meat processing and packaging plant on the Highway 99 Frontage Road north of Lodi . The facility is about one-third of a mile north of the Mokelumne River. VFF proposes to discharge up to 0.13 mgd of treated process wastewater and 0.15 mgd of polluted ground water to an underground injection well permitted by the EPA Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program. This proposed Order regulates the operation and performance of the treatment plant, including the equalization/emergency storage basin as a Class II Surface Impoundment per the requirements of Title 23, Chapter 3, Subchapter 15. This proposed Order is designed to be consistent with the UIC Permit and Cease and Desist Order No. 88- 191 which requires, in part, that VFF monitor and cleanup the polluted ground water to the Board' s satisfaction. VFF purchased the facility, under the corporate name of Newco Acquisition Sub Inc. , from Goehring Meat Inc. , in November 1988. Cease and Desist Order No. 88- 191 , Resolution No. 88-192, and NPDES Permit No. 88-193 were issued to Newco in November 1988, prior to completion of the transaction. Special Order 89-037 was adopted by the Board in February 1989 to reflect the corporate name change. Process wastewater and high strength brines were discharged to two, unlined ponds, consisting of a surface area of about 9 acres, since at least 1966. Currently, process wastewater is discharged to one of the ponds. The past and present discharge practices resulted in high TDS wastewaters percolating from the ponds into the local aquifer. Subsequently, some nearby domestic and agricultural supply wells in the upper water bearing zones became polluted and others remain threatened. The plume of high TDS ground water currently extends at least one-half mile north (down-gradient) and 150 feet deep. The current process wastewater is much lower in TDS concentration and the discharge to the ponds has less of an impact to the aquifer than in the past. However, the discharge continues to be a source of ground water pollution and is not in compliance with Subchapter 15. Limited corrective action began on the aquifer in June 1989 when three extraction wells began pumping polluted ground water to the Mokelumne River (per discharge limitations of NPDES Permit No. 89- 193) . Since June, VFF has been pumping about 0.1 mgd of the polluted ground water. Though this is a significant effort, its effect is limited because of the ongoing source of pollution from the percolation ponds. Until the source is removed, the pumping' s impact is limited to retarding the advancement of the plume. The proposed Order and the EPA injection well permit will allow VFF to begin full scale cleanup of the aquifer.