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<br />LOGE 2211 Page 10 <br /> <br />Quantity and Quality of Domestic Wastewater <br />Sierra Construction proposes to build a three-bedroom home on each parcel of the Site. <br />Crites and Tchobanoglous (1998) list a typical flow rate of 50 to 70 gallons per person <br />per day for an individual residence. In the past, San Joaquin County Environmental <br />Health Department has requested that the flow rate be calculated as 140 gallons per <br />bedroom per day to reflect maximum usage. On March 4, 2020, however, Michael Kith <br />of the San Joaquin County Environmental Health Department dictated a new procedure <br />for calculating residential flow, developed in consultation with Norman Hantzsche <br />(author of the 1992 paper discussed previously). He indicated that wastewater flow <br />from a single-family residence should be calculated as 100 gallons per day (gpd) for the <br />first bedroom and 50 gpd for each additional bedroom; additional residences should be <br />calculated in the same manner (personal communication, March 4, 2020). <br />Using this method, the three-bedroom home on each parcel is considered to have a <br />flow rate of 200 gpd. <br />A typical residential concentration of 35 mg/L of nitrate as N was selected for the <br />proposed and existing residences (Crites and Tchobanoglous, 1998). <br />The estimated flow values discussed here should not be used for the design and sizing <br />of the septic systems. The design and sizing of the septic systems should utilize the <br />San Joaquin County Environmental Health Department On-Site Wastewater Treatment <br />Systems Standards, which incorporates peak and surge flow factors. The estimates <br />used in the On-Site Wastewater Treatment Systems Standards may be greater than <br />those discussed here. <br />Denitrification Reductions <br />Denitrification is a process that occurs in the septic system drain field whereby certain <br />bacteria oxidize the nitrate (NO3) in the wastewater and release nitrogen gas (N2) to the <br />atmosphere. Due to the biologic processes in the shallow soils, nitrogen in the drain <br />field may undergo a reduction between 10 percent to 35 percent. Soils with higher clay <br />content, moist soil conditions, high pH, and organic material denitrify by about 35 <br />percent, and soils with high sand content tend to denitrify at a lower rate of about 10 <br />percent. <br />A denitrification factor of 35 percent was selected for the Site because of the clayey soil <br />present at the percolation test location. <br />