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Regional Water Quality Control. Board <br /> December 23, 2013 <br /> Page 4 <br /> Processing Residuals"), and Lewis Engineering/GLA, Pilot Project Plan, Forward <br /> Landfill, Food Processing Residuals (2012), describe certain measures that are necessary <br /> to prevent adverse effects from the Landfill's cannery waste operations. The WDRs rely <br /> on the FEIR and its attachments, WDRs at 24, but do not include the full set of mitigation <br /> measures recommended in these documents. The WDRs should incorporate these <br /> requirements in order to protect local residents and water sources. <br /> A. Solar Drying <br /> The WDRs should require the Landfill to perform thorough solar drying of <br /> cannery waste, which is essential to prevent the breeding of vectors, to reduce noxious <br /> odors, and to prevent the percolation of harmful chemicals into water sources. <br /> Attachments to the FEIR outline detailed procedures that Forward should follow to fully <br /> dry cannery waste and thereby avoid the potentially injurious consequences of its <br /> disposal. In particular, the FEIR states that: (1) drying should be completed within five <br /> days; (2) the ground surface should be prepared prior to the application of waste; (3) <br /> waste should be spread 1"-3" deep in order to ensure complete drying; and (4) waste <br /> must be stirred at 12-hour intervals with a spring tooth cultivation device in order to <br /> facilitate drying. See Food Processing Residuals at 3-1, Letter from Kevin Basso, <br /> General Manager of Forward Landfill, to Robert McClellan, San Joaquin County Public <br /> Health Services (Mar. 27, 2007) (appended to Food Processing Residuals). By contrast, <br /> the WDRs only generally require drying and the even spreading of cannery waste. <br /> Drying according to the FEIR specifications is necessary for several <br /> reasons. First, thorough drying prevents anaerobic decomposition, which is a primary <br /> source of the noxious odors that pervade the Landfill and surrounding area. Food <br /> Processing Residuals at 3-1. Second, complete drying within five days interrupts biting <br /> flies' lifecycles, and as mentioned above, biting flies are not only painful nuisances, but <br /> also potential disease vectors. Id. Drying also prevents the organic materials in cannery <br /> waste from being accessible as nutrition for other vectors, such as rats. Drying is <br /> therefore essential to confine pathogens contained in cannery waste. Third, without <br /> drying, various substances—Nitrogen, metals, and VOCs—can percolate into <br /> groundwater. WDRs at 19-21. Given that local groundwater is already polluted by <br /> landfill ieachates, the Water Board should require Forward Landfill to rigorously manage <br /> its cannery waste facility to prevent additional contamination. Otherwise, the likely <br /> result will be the further degradation of local water sources. <br /> SHUTE, MIHALY <br /> w --WEfNBERGERu_P <br />