SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE

Home Browse Search

STATE OF CALIFORNIA i?/9�. PETE WILSON, Governor CALIFORNIA REGIONAL WATER QUALITY CONTROL BOARD CENTRAL VALLEY REGION 3443 ROUTIER ROAD, SUITE A Sacramento, CA 95827-3098 PHONE: (916)361-5600 FAX: (916) 361-5686 R F r'. 31 October 1991 NOV 04 12191 AL HEALTH Mr. Dennis Abrahamson Simpson Paper Company-Ripon Mill 942 South Stockton Avenue Ripon, CA 95366 REVIEW OF GROUND WATER MONITORING PLAN AND REGIONAL GROUND WATER QUALITY REPORT, REQUEST FOR TECHNICAL REPORT, SIMPSON PAPER COMPANY-RIPON MILL, SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY (CASE # 449) We have reviewed the 7 August 1991 Ground Water Monitoring Plan (Plan) and 19 September 1991 Regional Ground Water Quality Report (Report) . Based on the information submitted in these reports, we find that: a) Simpson Paper Company- Ripon Mill (Simpson) Monitoring and Reporting Program No. 83-001 should be updated; b) the Report did not discuss how Simpson's waste water management operations affects local ground water quality; and c) the Report does not discuss whether Simpson's effluent is a designated waste. In a 22 February 1991 Phase 2 Study, Simpson indicated that its waste water ponds were a source of increased TDS in the underlying shallow aquifer. On 13 May 1991, we notified Simpson Paper Company that we considered the discharge from the Ripon Mill and cogeneration facility to be a "designated waste." In a later response to our letter, Simpson proposed a schedule which would enable Simpson to demonstrate that its waste water discharge should not be regulated as a "designated waste" under California Code of Regulations, Title 23, Division 3, Chapter 15 (Chapter 15) . On 27 June 1991, we met with Simpson staff tc disci.:ss Simpson's proposal . On 11 ,lively 1991, we approved Simpson's time schedule with the understanding that the ground water investigation would determine a TDS limit for a land discharge permit. This limit would represent a level , below which Simpson's discharge would not be a "designated waste. " No such limit was proposed in the recent ground water investigation. Simpson submitted a 19 September 1991 "Regional Ground Water Quality Report" by Lawrence and Associates, (Lawrence Report) . The Lawrence report does not mention Chapter 15 or "designated wastes. The Lawrence report defines "deep aquifer" as including all aquifer units being utilized for beneficial use of ground water. Lawrence does not recognize that all ground waters identified in the Basin Plan must be protected for current and future beneficial uses. None of the ground waters at the Ripon Mill site have been excluded from protection, including the semi-perched zone.