SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE

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WASTE DISCHARGE REQEMENTS • -2- FOX VALLEY CORPORATION AND FOX RIVER PAPER COMPANY RIPON MILL SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY system and are used only to contain excess waste water 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 Discharger's 26 April 1996 hydraulic capacity report concludes 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. 5. The Discharger receives water from an electric cogeneration plant. 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. 6. The Discharger, in an effort to abate odors emanating from its ponds, has converted the inactive sludge pond(see Attachment B)to an aeration basin for secondary treatment of mill effluent. Inert dewatered sludge from the inactive sludge pond has been placed on 50 acres and disced into the top eight inches of soil as a soil amendment. 7. 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/1. 8. Regional Board staff determined that past waste discharges were classified as "designated wastes" under Title 23, California Code of Regulations,Division 3, Chapter 15. 9. Subsequent to the Regional Board's determination that the waste was designated, the Discharger has completed three projects in order to reduce effluent total dissolved solids (TDS): a. The Discharger has reduced the alum consumption by making changes in the manufacturing chemistry. This change has reduced the effluent TDS to 1400 mg/l. b. The cogeneration plant installed a brine concentrator to increase the concentration of the regeneration brine waste from the water softeners to 25 degree Baume. The concentrated solution is stored in a tank and trucked off-site for reuse as a brine solution by another company. C. The Discharger replaced its three existing water supply wells (Wells No. 1, 2, and 3), which were screened in the upper,intermediate and lower zones. These wells were replaced by five water supply wells (Wells No. 4, 5, 6,7, and 8) screened only in the intermediate zone. The Discharger believes this will reduce the TDS in their waste water to 1100 mg/l and eliminate the cross-contamination of salt into the deeper zones from the semi-perched zones. 10. Background water quality at the site is difficult to ascertain due to a plume of pollutants to the north of the site, which originates from the Nestle facility. Also,to the west of the site, the City of Ripon discharges both domestic and industrial waste water to percolation ponds. Ground water recharge from the Stanislaus River on the south side of the facility is of very high quality.