SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE

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INFORMATION SHEET ORDER NO. R5-2002-0148 MUSCO FAMILY OLIVE COMPANY AND THE STUDLEY COMPANY WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND LAND DISPOSAL FACILITY SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY Musco Family Olive Company and the Studley Company(Discharger) operate an olive cannery near Tracy, San Joaquin County. The Tracy facility is equipped with 734 storage tanks ranging in size from 3,600-gallons to 8,800-gallons and 98 processing tanks that are 2,500-gallons each. Additional olives are stored at the Discharger's Visalia and Orland facilities and are trucked to Tracy for processing. The facility has approximately 37,000 tons of storage capacity and an additional 10,000 tons can be processed fresh for a total storage capacity of approximately 47,000 tons. The facility can process approximately 1,000 tons per week for a total processing capacity of 52,000 tons per year. Olives are stored in an acetic acid solution prior to processing. Processing the olives requires immersing the raw olives in lye solutions to cure the olive, then drawing the lye out of the olives with successive baths of fresh water. The olives are pitted prior to canning in a brine (sodium chloride) solution. Processing occurs year round,with fresh olives processed from September through early November and stored olives processed the remainder of the year. Process wastewater generated at the facility is regulated by two separate WDRs. Order No. 96-075 regulates the two Title 27 surface impoundments that are used to store concentrated brines; Order No. 97-037 regulates the less concentrated wastewater that is applied to land. This WDR update only applies to the less concentrated wastewater. Local land use consists of industrial, residential, and agricultural operations. The site is located on an alluvial fan that generally slopes to the northeast. Topography varies from steep to nearly level. Surface water drainage from the facility is to the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta. WASTEWATER SYSTEM A wastewater system is used to collect and apply the industrial wastewater to land. Wastewater is collected throughout the facility by floor drains and is piped to a central collection area. Despite requests for information, the Discharger has not fully described how it determines whether to discharge to the land application system or the Title 27 ponds. From the 1-million gallon pond, the wastewater may either be applied directly to the land application areas or it may be stored in a new 84-million gallon storage pond prior to land application. The facility consists of 280 acres, of which approximately 200 acres are available as wastewater land application areas. Wastewater is characterized by high concentrations of organic matter, total dissolved solids (TDS), sodium, and chloride. Waste lye solutions, carbon dioxide neutralization water,pit floatation brine, ion exchange regeneration brine, and boiler blow down are discharged to the Title 27 ponds. Lye rinse water, cooling water, wash waters (including weak lye solutions), acetic acid storage solutions, pitting machine wastewater, clean-in-place solutions, and cannery floor wastewater(despite high TDS concentration), are sent to the land application system.