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WASTE DISCHARGE REQUIREMENTS ORDER R5-2012-0103 - 20 - <br />CONSTELLATION BRANDS U.S. OPERATIONS, INC. dba WOODBRIDGE WINERY <br />WOODBRIDGE WINERY <br />SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY <br /> <br />57. Surface water drainage is to the Mokelumne River. The facility is within the Lower <br />Mokelumne Hydrologic Area (No. 531.20), as depicted on interagency hydrologic <br />maps prepared by the Department of Water Resources in August 1986. <br />58. The beneficial uses of the Mokelumne River from Camanche Reservoir to the <br />Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta are agricultural supply; water contact recreation; non- <br />contact water recreation; warm freshwater habitat; cold freshwater habitat; migration of <br />aquatic organisms; spawning, reproduction, and/or early development; and wildlife <br />habitat. <br />59. The beneficial uses of underlying groundwater are municipal and domestic water <br />supply, agricultural supply, industrial service supply, and industrial process supply. <br />ANTIDEGRADATION ANALYSIS <br />60. State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) Resolution 68-16 (the <br />Antidegradation Policy) requires that the Central Valley Water Board, in regulating the <br />discharge of waste, must maintain the high quality of waters of the state until it is <br />demonstrated that any change in quality will be consistent with maximum benefit to the <br />people of the state, will not unreasonably affect beneficial uses, and will not result in <br />water quality less than that described in the Regional Water Board’s policies (e.g., <br />quality that exceeds water quality objectives). Resolution 68-16 also requires that <br />waste discharged to high quality waters be required to meet WDRs that will result in <br />the best practicable treatment or control of the discharge. Resolution 68-16 prohibits <br />degradation of groundwater quality as it existed in 1968, or at any time thereafter that <br />groundwater quality was better than in 1968, other than degradation that was <br />previously authorized. <br />61. Groundwater conditions at the site in 1968 are unknown. Therefore, background <br />groundwater quality is an appropriate basis for the Antidegradation analysis. As noted <br />in the foregoing Findings, the Mokelumne River is a source of high quality groundwater <br />recharge upgradient of the site, and shallow groundwater quality declines with <br />increasing distance from the river. Locally, the shallow groundwater degradation may <br />be caused by natural mineralization and/or agricultural activities. However, shallow <br />groundwater beneath the site has apparently been degraded with TDS, sulfate, <br />chloride, sodium, and nitrogen compounds by the long-time winery discharge, which <br />began as early as 1933. <br />62. As described above, the Discharger has lined the Upper Ponds, implemented salinity <br />source control, improved wastewater treatment, implemented water conservation <br />measures and improved cropping practices to maximize nutrient and water uptake. <br />However, the level of salinity reduction achieved with source control to date is not <br />known. Therefore, it is appropriate for this Order to require that the Discharger provide <br />a quantitative determination of the level of salinity reduction achieved for each of the <br />contributing waste streams. <br />63. According to the RWD, the facility generates an economic benefit on the local, state, <br />and national economies. The estimated overall total benefit is approximately $218.1 <br />million per year. Based on the following, allowing some level of groundwater <br />degradation of groundwater is in the best interest of the people of the State: