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• • r I, WASTE DISCHARGE REQUIREMENTS ORDER NO.R5-2002-0148 -6- MUSCO FAMILY OLIVE COMPANY AND THE STUDLEY COMPANY WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND LAND DISPOSAL FACILITY SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY 28. The Discharger submitted another water balance as part of its 8 August 2002 comments to the tentative WDRs, This water balance utilizes an 84-million gallon storage pond, 200 acres of cropland, and a monthly average flow to the storage pond of 800,000 gpd. The water balance appears overly optimistic in estimating the low volume of both irrigation tailwater and stormwater generated in the land application areas that must be returned to the pond. However, this Order allows the proposed flow of 800,000 gpd subject to certain conditions: measurement of the amount of tailwater returned to the pond, measurement/estimation of the amount of stormwater returned to the ponds, and cessation of discharge into either the 1-million gallon settling pond or 84-million gallon storage pond if either pond contains less than two feet of freeboard. 29. Regional Board staff received odor complaints on 22 October 2001, 2 November 2001, 19 November 2001, 3 December 2001, 18 January 2002,22 March 2002, 11 April 2002, 28 May 2002, 29 May 2002, 5 June 2002, 27 June 2002, 8 July 2002, and 12 August 2002. In addition, an adjacent landowner described the nuisance odor conditions at the 6 June 2002 Regional Board meeting and submitted written comments regarding the odors on 8 August 2002. The odor complaints concerned the Discharger's land application areas, especially the eastern portion where the Discharger constructed and then flooded three irrigation checks. The Regional Board has also received several written complaints addressing wastewater that reportedly discharged from the Discharger's property. 30. The Discharger submitted a 28 June 2002 Odor Minimization Report describing the additional steps it will take to prevent current and future nuisance odors. To eliminate the current odors, Musco pumped out the standing water in irrigation checks nos. 2 and 3 in May 2002, has eliminated the water in two of the three ponds built within the intermittent stream, has installed an aerator in the 1-million gallon settling pond(although recent monitoring reports show that the dissolved oxygen levels are still less than 1 mg/1), and will"carefully manage"the application of wastewater on its southeastern fields. However, these steps have not been sufficient to prevent the continuing odor complaints. Because the four fields labeled "irrigation checks"are the closest fields to off-site residences,this Order prohibits the application of wastewater to these fields unless the Discharger can prove to the Executive Officer's satisfaction that wastewater application to this land will not cause offsite odors. 31. To prevent future odors, the Odor Minimization Report states that aerators with a capacity to provide at least 1.4 pounds oxygen/pound BOD should be installed in the 84-million gallon storage pond. The Report also states that wastewater at a depth of 1-2 feet below the pond surface should always have a dissolved oxygen concentration above 2 mg/l, a dissolved sulfide concentration less than 0.1 mg/l, and a pH between 7.5 and 8.5. Finally, the Report recommends that the Discharger use a portable sprayer tank mounted on a pickup truck to spray an alkaline chemical on the pond banks and water for rapid odor suppression. These recommendations have been incorporated into this Order. 32. Excess Biochemical Oxygen Demand(BOD)in the wastewater can lead to odor problems. The RWD states that the estimated annual BOD loading rate for the year 2002 will be 291bs/acre/day, which is well below the US EPA's criteria for the prevention of odors. However, a review of the most recent self monitoring report(June 2002) shows BOD loading rates ranging from 31 to 1,184