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INITIAL STUDY, CONTINUED <br /> Proiect Description <br /> This project is a Use Permit application to add urban green waste (which may include some food <br /> waste handling activities) to an existing agricultural waste composting facility. No new buildings <br /> will be constructed. Material is accepted into the facility and incorporated into windrows. The <br /> windrows will be turned periodically with a windrow turner and monitored for temperature and <br /> moisture. The final product will be cured and sold as organically certified compost to agricultural <br /> and landscape users in the region. A maximum of five hundred tons per day and 182,500 tons <br /> per year of material will be accepted at the facility. The project is located on the south side of W. <br /> Frewert Road, 1.3 miles west of S. Manthey Road, west of Lathrop. This parcel is not under <br /> Williamson Act contract. <br /> Environmental Issues <br /> 1.Water <br /> Water coming into contact with any feedstock or composting material will be prevented from <br /> leaving the site. Additionally, the compost pad areas will be sloped toward the retention pond, <br /> which is designed to collect water from the entire 20 acre site. The current berms and slopes will <br /> be modified to ensure that current conditions are met. The pond currently on site was designed to <br /> accommodate the full 20 acres. If any new compost pile areas are developed, the ground will be <br /> sloped toward the pond as well. <br /> The quality of the groundwater in the vicinity of the site is historically poor and it is expected that <br /> the quality of water constituting any leachate or potential leachate from the composting operation <br /> will be of higher quality. The area of the facility where composting related activities occur is <br /> sloped toward a retention pond at approximately 2%. The facility currently operates under a <br /> Monitoring and Reporting Plan issued by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), <br /> District 5, and will continue to do so until there are any changes authorized by the RWQCB. For <br /> example, the electrical conductivity analysis demonstrates that the historic background levels are <br /> of less quality than the leachate collected in the pond. The characteristic value used to compare <br /> the background to the threshold of electrical conductivity (EC) is usually a statistical derivation of <br /> the Upper Confidence Level, which was recently calculated as the average plus two standard <br /> deviations. By that calculation, the Upper Confidence Level for the EC in the background <br /> groundwater is 17,189 micromhos as compared to the water in the pond at 2,966 micromhos. <br /> The state is developing a new statewide order for composting and the facility will comply with this, <br /> or any other requirements of the Regional Board. <br /> 2.c. Prime Farmland <br /> This parcel consists of two soil types, Bisgani loamy course sand, partially drained, 0 to 2 percent <br /> slopes and Grangeville clay loam, partially drained, 0 to 2 percent slopes. <br /> Bisgani loamy course sand, partially drained, 0 to 2 percent slopes is a very deep, poorly drained <br /> nearly level soil in low alluvial fans. It is formed in alluvium derived from granitic rock sources. <br /> Permeability is rapid in the Bisgani soil. Available water capacity is low. Most areas are used for <br /> irrigated crops. A few areas are used as irrigated pasture or for homesite development. This soil <br /> may provide wetland functions and values. These should be considered in plans for enhancement <br /> Initial Study -8- Rev 5-00 <br /> 71185450.1 0078479-00001 <br />