SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE

Home Browse Search

INFORMATION SHEET ORDER NO. 5-00-142 CITY OF ESCALON WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY The City of Escalon operates a domestic and industrial wastewater treatment and disposal facility at 25100 W. River Road, in Escalon, San Joaquin County. The facility receives domestic wastewater from the City of Escalon. Industrial wastewater, generated by Escalon Premier Brands (tomato canner) and Eckert Cold Storage (bell pepper canner) is discharged to the WWTP between the months of July and November. The peak discharge of industrial wastewater occurs in September and October, when approximately 90 to 95 million gallons per month of industrial wastewater is discharged. The industrial wastewater is discharged to the WWTP via a 30-inch gravity pipeline which also conveys stormwater from the City of Escalon during the wet season. The industrial dischargers presently screen the wastewater prior to discharge to the WWTP. Escalon Premier Brands is in the process of evaluating pretreatment alternatives. Odor complaints were documented related to the industrial wastewater discharge in 1997, 1998, and 1999. The domestic wastewater and the industrial wastewater are conveyed, treated, and disposed of in separate ponds. Domestic wastewater is discharged to five treatment ponds, all of which are mechanically aerated. Approximately 120 horsepower of mechanical aeration devices are located in the domestic wastewater ponds. Industrial wastewater is discharged to four treatment ponds, all of which are mechanically aerated. Approximately 610 horsepower of mechanical aeration devices are located in the industrial wastewater ponds. The Discharger plans to construct improvements in the WWTP which will provide better treatment of industrial wastewater and increased flow capacity. The improvements consist of deepening the existing treatment ponds, construction of two new ponds, reconfiguration of existing ponds, piping changes, and addition of mechanical aeration devices. Enlargement of the treatment ponds is recommended; the enlargement will result in an additional 3.1 million gallons of storage capacity. The treatment ponds will be enlarged by deepening, the surface area of the ponds will not change significantly. The evaporation/percolation pond configuration improvements will result in an additional 13.7 acres of surface area and 18.3 million gallons of storage capacity. The improvements will allow an additional 1.41 million gallons per day of wastewater flow. An additional 210 horsepower of mechanical aerators are also planned for the treatment ponds. Depth to the first water bearing zone is approximately 30-35 feet. These WDRs require characterization of the existing groundwater quality and quarterly groundwater monitoring. Three groundwater monitoring wells exist at the facility; however because of the groundwater flow direction, they are not located in areas which provide useful data on groundwater conditions. Because the WWTP improvements have not yet been constructed, these WDRs contain interim discharge limits. The interim limits will be replaced with higher flow limits upon Executive Officer approval of a technical report describing the implemented WWTP improvements. The Monitoring and Reporting Program requires monitoring of the domestic influent and effluent, industrial influent and effluent, and groundwater and surface water. Monitoring data will be used to determine whether wastewater treatment and/or pond mitigation efforts are necessary. TRO 6/16/00