SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE 1980-1999

Home Browse Search

WASTE DISCHARGE REQUIREMENTS ORDER NO. 5-00- • -9- CITY OF LODI WHITE SLOUGH WATER POLLUTION CONTROL PLANT SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY 36. White Slough and Bishop Cut are used for contact recreation. Also, Dredger Cut, White Slough, and Bishop Cut are used by riparian users for irrigation supply on crops, which may include food crops. Dredger Cut has been posted as a wastewater disposal area. Current information available indicates that more stringent effluent limitations for disinfection are necessary to protect public health from contact recreation in Bishop Cut and White Slough, and agricultural supply for food crop production in Dredger Cut, Bishop Cut, and White Slough. To protect the beneficial uses of the receiving water, this permit contains effluent and receiving water limitations based upon water quality objectives contained in the Basin Plan and a time schedule to provide additional treatment. To protect the beneficial use of contact recreation in a receiving stream with less than twenty to one dilution, and agricultural supply for food crop irrigation, the California Department of Health Services (DHS) recommends the wastewater be oxidized, coagulated and filtered and the effluent be disinfected such that the median MPN of coliform organisms does not exceed 2.2/100 ml. Filtration is an effective means of reducing viruses and parasites from the waste stream. The method of treatment is not prescribed by this Order, but must meet the DHS recommended level of treatment or equivalent. A turbidity effluent limitation has also been included to assure compliance with the DHS recommended level of treatment. The Board has considered the factors specified in Water Code Section 13263, including considering the provisions of Water Code Section 13241, in adopting the coliform limitation in the proposed waste discharge requirements. In its letter dated 24 February 1999 to the Regional Board, the City of Lodi provided an estimated cost of between $10 to $15 million dollars to design and construct the proposed disinfection facility. To date, there has been no elaboration or refinement of this rough estimate. The Board finds, on balance, that these requirements are necessary to protect the beneficial uses of Dredger Cut, Bishop Cut, and White Slough, including public health impacts of recreational uses and irrigation uses of the receiving waters. This Order provides interim limits for total coliform, which the Discharger is currently capable of meeting. Full compliance with the turbidity limitation and the 2.2 MPN/100 ml total coliform limitation is not required by this Order until 1 May 2004. Adequate time is provided for the Discharger to propose alternatives that are still protective of public health and irrigation uses but at a reduced cost. The permit may be reopened at such time as the Discharger proposes an alternative that is protective of public health and irrigation use. 37. The Board has notified the Discharger and interested agencies and persons of its intent to prescribe waste discharge requirements for this discharge and has provided them with an opportunity for a public hearing and an opportunity to submit their written views and recommendations. 38. The Board, in a public meeting, heard and considered all comments pertaining to the discharge.