Agenda - 02-20-1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 the minimum criterion for a discharge permit as set forth by the agency having permitting authority (this particular case and other similar situations were the primary reason that Orange County withdrew from the Regional Health Department and formed the Orange County Health Department) . A field representative of DEM inspected the Carden's system shortly after its completion and ordered its discharge pipe plugged. It should have been apparent to the DEM representative that the order to simply plug the discharge pipe was not a long term solution to the problem at Carden's. It was probably apparent to the DEM representative that the discharge piping would be unpluged after he left the site and that the system would begin operating in violation of DEM standards and regulations. The twenty year period since the Carden sewage system was installed has been a time of frequent complaint by Carden's neighbors to the OC Health Department and DEM, and by the OC Health Department to DEM. The nature of the complaints against the Carden's sewer discharge have involved the low quality (foul odor, high organic solid content) of the discharge and routing (into and across the field on the opposite side of Hwy 70) of the discharge flow. Prior to late summer in 1989, DEM gave no direct response to any of the letters and complaints by the OC Health Department or Carden's neighbors. DEM allowed the problems at Carden's to go on unchecked and unabated. Since the system was installed and after the DEM field representative ordered the system to cease discharging, DEM has issued an NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) discharge permit to Carden's and renewed that permit two additional times. DEM began levying fines against the owners of Carden's in 1989, but has agreed to mitigate those fines on the condition that the owners install a package waste treatment facility to replace the septic tank and sand filter arrangement. DEM has attempted to address the problems with the quality of the sewage discharge by forcing Carden's to construct the package treatment plant. As long as the new package treatment system is designed, operated and maintained satisfactorily, the quality of the discharge should be drastically improved. It is important to note that the puantity of discharge is likely to be increased. Not all of the trailers at Carden's were hooked up to the existing septic/sand filter system, while most, if not all, of the trailers may be attached to the new package treatment system (the discharge permit is for 6000 gallons per day which is sufficient for a minimum of 18 three bedroom trailers) . No attempt has ever been made by DEM to change the point of discharge for the Carden's system. DEM has acknowleged that they have no reasonable explanation for this oversight, because the sewage discharge is to a roadside ditch which has no flow except in rainy periods. DEM normally does not and has not allowed point source sewage discharge to anything less than perennial streams where the lowest