RWQCB rescinds waste discharge orders for Color Spot, Oak Crest, Rancho Corrido

The Regional Water Quality Control Board rescinded waste discharge orders for Color Spot Foliage Inc., the Oak Crest Treatment Plant and the Rancho Corrido Recreational Vehicle Park.

The RWQCB actions, Aug. 12, do not eliminate the waste discharge restrictions but rather incorporate those facilities into a general order so that reporting for individual facilities can be consolidated.

The lease for 116.45 acres of land in the 2500 block of Olive Hill Road was transferred from Color Spot Nurseries to Altman Specialty Plants in October 2018. The nursery leases the land from San Diego County, which owns Fallbrook Community Airpark. The rescission of the individual waste discharge order also eliminates the need to recognize the ownership change on the waste discharge permit.

In November 2016, the RWQCB adopted a general order which regulates discharges from commercial agriculture operations including irrigation runoff, non-stormwater runoff and stormwater runoff to waters of the state within the San Diego Region. Discharges from the nursery will continue to be subject to requirements which prohibit the discharge of wastes and wastewater from the nursery’s boundaries, but the elimination of individual discharge orders allows the RWQCB to utilize its resources for higher-priority projects which are more of a threat to water quality. The rescission of the Color Spot waste discharge order also eliminates the need for the nursery to submit monitoring reports and pay annual fees.

Color Spot was cited for eight violations between 1994 and 2006 for discharging to and illegally taking water from an unnamed tributary to Bonsall Creek. A cease and desist order was issued April 8, 1998, for failure to prohibit the discharge of wastewater beyond the limits of lands owned and controlled by the nursery. After the nursery came into compliance the cease and desist order was rescinded in February 2003. Although Color Spot was cited for eight subsequent violations, none have occurred since 2006.

The Oak Crest Treatment Plant is part of the Oak Crest Estates mobile home park in the 4700 block of Oak Crest Road. The treatment facility, which serves 112 units within the mobile home park, is an extended aeration package treatment plant whose secondary effluent is not chlorinated before being discharged to the spray area. The treatment plant, which for safety and security reasons is fenced off to prevent public access, includes two concrete-lined storage ponds with a total capacity of 1.2 million gallons. In 1993 the RWQCB adopted requirements for the discharge of domestic waste by the mobile home park which allows for the disposal of up to 12,000 gallons per day of treated domestic wastewater which is disposed of by spray irrigation on approximately 5 acres. The Rainbow Municipal Water District had operated the treatment plant, and Rainbow was included as a co-permittee on that waste discharge order.

The RWQCB has cited the Oak Crest Treatment Plant for 37 violations of the waste discharge order including deficient monitoring, excessive effluent for total dissolved solids and the discharge of waste from a sludge drying bed to Rainbow Creek. RWQCB staff issued six staff enforcement letters for the deficient monitoring and excessive effluent and also issued an investigative order and notice of violation for the discharge of sludge into Rainbow Creek. Oak Crest Estates Inc. cooperated with all information requests and made changes to the treatment system to ensure that the discharge of sludge to Rainbow Creek will not recur.

Because the Rainbow Municipal Water District does not have its own treatment facility, Rainbow employees do not have certain treatment plant operator certifications common for operations staff of agency-owned treatment plants. The Oak Crest Treatment Plant was allowed to be operated by Rainbow because of its small size, and no operational failures have occurred. State law has revised operator certification requirements, and in September 2016, Rainbow received a notice from the RWQCB that the plant was classified as a Grade III wastewater treatment plant which requires an operator to have a Wastewater III certification or higher. State law requires full-time employment at a significantly larger plant for the issuance of a Grade III certification. Rainbow and Oak Crest staff worked together to find a suitable contractor, and in January 2017 Rainbow's board approved a treatment contract with Water Quality Specialists. RWQCB staff inspected the Oak Crest Treatment Plant Feb. 14, 2019, and did not observe any violations of the waste discharge order.

In 2014, the State Water Quality Control Board approved a waste discharge requirement general order for small domestic wastewater treatment systems. Discharges from small domestic wastewater treatment systems have certain common characteristics such as similar constituents, concentrations of constituents, disposal techniques and flow ranges, and they require the same or similar treatment standards. The Oak Crest Treatment Plant is eligible for the statewide order, which will provide a more consistent and streamlined statewide approach to regulating small domestic wastewater treatment systems. The monitoring requirements of the general order are not as stringent as the requirements from the 1993 facility regulation, but the monitoring and reporting program required by the general order is more consistent with facilities of similar size and discharge across the state.

The Rancho Corrido Recreational Vehicle Park in the 14700 block of Highway 76 will also be regulated under the statewide general order for small domestic wastewater treatment systems. The rescinded waste discharge order was issued in 1994, and all of the violations have been for monitoring or report omissions rather than for discharges of excessive levels. The most recent of those was in 2016.

The RWQCB also rescinded the specific waste discharge order for the Tucalota Springs Recreational Vehicle Park in Hemet and replaced that with the statewide general order for small domestic wastewater treatment systems.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].