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Sam Monaco Is - 5 - 40 9 June 2017 <br /> Harvest-Lathrop Composting Facility <br /> requires that working surfaces must be constructed to allow year round equipment access <br /> without damage to the working surfaces. The combination of almost flat working surfaces, <br /> reliance on sheet flow, and onsite soils consisting predominantly of fine sands and silts does <br /> not provide conditions necessary for allowing year round equipment access during the wet <br /> season without damage to the working surface (i.e., rutting, loss of drainage slope, ponding, <br /> etc.) <br /> 7. Insufficient groundwater separation. The General Order Finding 21 found that "a <br /> substantial unsaturated zone reduces pathogen survival compared to saturated soil <br /> conditions. Fine grained(silt or clay) soil particles reduce the rate of groundwater transport <br /> and therefore are generally less likely to transport pathogens." Furthermore, Finding 21 <br /> found that "setbacks also provide attenuation of other wastewater constituents through <br /> physical, chemical, and biological processes." The Discharger's Final Technical Report Site <br /> Plan (Figure 2) at piezometer P1 reported groundwater elevation at 2.3 feet mean sea level <br /> (msl) and at geotechnical boring P2-B1 at 3.96 msl., the Discharger proposes detention <br /> pond A to have a pond bottom elevation of 3.0 feet msl adjacent to the area where <br /> piezometer P1 measured groundwater at 2.3 feet msl providing a calculated groundwater <br /> separation of 0.7 feet. Furthermore, the Discharger proposes to raise the pond bottom in the <br /> area of boring P2-B1 (see item 8 below) to 6.0 feet msl in order to provide groundwater <br /> separation of 2.04 feet msl. Groundwater measurements at P1 and P2-131 do not take into <br /> account seasonal fluctuations of groundwater elevation and does not estimate highest <br /> anticipated groundwater elevation including capillary fringe. It is entirely possible that the <br /> Discharger's proposed design could create conditions during above average wet rainfall <br /> years where groundwater elevation could intersect the bottom liner of the proposed <br /> detention ponds providing no unsaturated zone for pathogen reduction or attenuation of <br /> other wastewater constituents. <br /> 8. Insufficient detention pond B storage capacity. The Discharger's proposed detention <br /> pond B storage capacity does not comply with General Order Specifications (Specifications) <br /> specification #5 requiring Dischargers to submit a Water and Wastewater Management Plan <br /> that describes how wastewater will be managed to prevent discharge. The Discharger's <br /> Final Technical Report Water Balance Analysis (Appendix C) Table 11 for Basin B states <br /> that storage capacity of detention pond B at freeboard level is 2,046,054 gallons (6.3 acre- <br /> feet). However, in construction drawing Grading and Drainage Plan (sheet 3) the Discharger <br /> proposes detention pond B to have a "stepped" bottom with an invert elevation of 6.0 feet <br /> msl at the northwestern edge and 3.5 feet msl at the northeastern edge to provide <br /> groundwater separation along the western half of detention pond B. The Discharger did not <br /> calculate storage capacity volume accounting for shallower pond storage capacity along the <br /> western half of the detention pond. Water Board staff calculations based on the information <br /> provided in the Discharger's Final Technical Report estimate detention pond capacity at <br /> freeboard level to be approximately 1,576,000 gallons. Therefore, based on column 14 of <br /> Table 11, the Discharger would exceed the detention pond capacity encroaching into the <br /> pond's freeboard area during the months of February, March, and April. <br /> 9. Disapproved engineered alternative for pan lysimeter. The General Order Tier II <br /> Specifications#3 requires detention ponds to be constructed with a pan lysimeter monitoring <br /> device under the lowest point of the pond, or an equivalent engineered alternative specified <br /> by the Discharger and approved by the Regional Water Board. The Discharger has specified <br /> as an engineered alternative to a pan lysimeter monitoring device is four Decagon 3G (sic) <br /> soil moisture probes per detention pond spaced approximately 150 to 250 feet apart and <br />