SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE

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WASTE DISCHARGE REQOMENTS ORDER NO. 5-01-148 • -2- FOX VALLEY CORPORATION AND FOX RIVER PAPER COMPANY RIPON MILL SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY with a caustic solution. The spent caustic is commingled with other mill effluent and discharged to the clarifier. Wastewater effluent to the clarifier from the papermaking process averages 1.0 - 2.0 mgd. 5. Low conductivity regeneration brine from the cogeneration plant water softeners and the mill effluent are collected in a sump and discharged into a circular primary clarifier. The clarifier effluent is discharged into two aeration stabilization basins (ASB)in series, as shown on Attachment B. The first, ASB No. 1, is a 14-foot deep, lined basin converted from an abandoned sludge pit. The second, ASB No. 2, is an unlined, 5-foot deep basin. Effluent from ASB No. 2 is disposed of on-site to percolation and irrigation fields through a system of pumps and irrigation pipelines. The original No. 1 and No. 3 effluent ponds (renamed as Overflow Ponds No. 1 and No. 2) have been removed from the wastewater treatment system and are used only to contain excess wastewater in the event of a system upset or a 100-year storm event. Similarly, Overflow Ponds No. 3 and No. 4 can be used for overflow situations. The hydraulic capacity report, dated 26 April 1996, concludes that the storage ponds and percolation fields have sufficient capacity to accommodate 60 million gallons per month total flow. Clarifier and ASB sludge is discharged to an on-site sludge pond. The sludge pond is an inert waste disposal unit. 6. The daily maximum discharge is 2.5 million gallons and the monthly maximum discharge is 60 million gallons. 7. The Discharger also receives water from an electric cogeneration plant located adjacent to the mill, but owned by others. Water supplied to the cogeneration plant is treated by a reverse osmosis (RO) filtration unit. The 4-stage RO process removes 95 percent of the dissolved solids from the water; the purified water is used to make steam. The steam can then be recycled without contaminants clogging the system and damaging the generator turbine blades. The RO effluent goes directly to the clarifier thence ASB Nos. 1 and 2. 8. The inactive sludge pond was temporarily used as an aeration basin for secondary treatment of mill effluent. Inert dewatered sludge from the inactive sludge pond was at one time placed on 50 acres and disked into the top eight inches of soil as a soil amendment. WASTE CLASSIFICATION 9. Past discharges have resulted in elevated levels of total dissolved solids (TDS) beneath the disposal areas. Wastes discharged to percolation areas in the past had TDS levels as high as 2500 mg/l. 10. Regional Board staff determined that past waste discharges were classified as "designated wastes" under Title 23, California Code of Regulations,Division 3, Chapter 15.