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Foothill Landfill <br />Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Page 68 <br />San Joaquin County proposed a “Natural Background Pollutant Source Demonstration” as <br />described in Section XII.D.2.c of the IGP. The County and its QISPs believe the cause of the <br />iron NAL exceedances to be solely attributable to the natural soils for the following reasons: <br />1. The 2015/2016 iron NAL exceedance at SW-3 was also accompanied with a TSS NAL <br />exceedance. However, there were no active industrial activities occurring in this <br />drainage area other than the movement of dirt used for daily cover. Vehicles and <br />equipment are not stored or maintained in this area, and, therefore, not a significant <br />source of iron. There are no structures of any kind and no landfilling activities occur <br />in this drainage area. Because the TSS concentration was elevated at 415 mg/L, it can <br />be concluded that sediment was a factor in the elevated iron concentration. The iron <br />concentration was 34.7 mg/L, which was significantly higher than the iron <br />concentrations observed during the 2016/2017 storm season when the TSS values <br />averaged much lower at 8.2 mg/L. <br />2. The 2016/2017 iron NAL exceedances resulted from samples collected from non- <br />industrial areas ST-1 and ST-7. The concentration of iron was approximately the same <br />at ST-6, which may have had a minor amount of contribution from an industrial area. <br />Therefore, because these concentrations were basically the same for iron and TSS, we <br />believe the source of the iron to be the same for water discharged at all three sampling <br />locations, which is from the native soils. <br />3. Soil samples were collected at ST-1, ST-6, and ST-7 in April 2017. All nine soil <br />samples had significant concentrations of iron ranging from 15,900 to 27,800 mg/kg. <br />There were no indications of current or previous industrial activities in the areas where <br />the soil samples were collected. <br />4. NRCS soil survey data shows that the site has soil types derived of volcanic activity. <br />Academic literature references iron to be a significant component of magna derived <br />igneous rocks. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Resources <br />Online Spatial Data website (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/), has a listing of shallow soil <br />samples. Without exception, all soil samples from this region are elevated in aluminum <br />and iron. The six nearest samples located within the general vicinity of the landfill <br />were found to have elevated aluminum (4.9 – 9.2% by weight) and iron concentrations <br />(2.0 – 6.5% by weight). Three of the six samples were within the same NRCS soil <br />types as those of the landfill. <br />5. Field observations note plentiful igneous and/or metamorphic rocks having a reddish <br />hue which is indicative of iron oxide. <br />