Gilroy
– Environmental regulators have given Christopher Ranch four
months to prevent a replay of a wastewater spill last month that
killed thousands of fish in Uvas Creek.
Gilroy – Environmental regulators have given Christopher Ranch four months to prevent a replay of a wastewater spill last month that killed thousands of fish in Uvas Creek.
The famed South Gilroy garlic producer has until August 1 to upgrade its wastewater disposal system, according to a March 16 letter from officials at the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. Any foot-dragging along the way could mean daily fines of up to $1,000.
“We’re looking for good-faith progress,” said Mike Higgins, the water board engineer overseeing compliance. “If we think they’re not trying very hard, we will take an enforcement action. But on the other hand, if they are doing good work and trying to comply, as evidenced by interim reporting that we’ll require, then if they need more time we’ll give them more time. August first is a target and we’ll see how hard they try to hit that target.”
By April 16, the first in a series of compliance deadlines, Higgins expects the ranch to have prepared a water monitoring station along the banks of Uvas Creek. The creek meanders through the city before winding through the fields of garlic and other row crops at Christopher Ranch, just north of state Route 25.
The monitoring station will allow access to the exit point of a pipe that carried a toxic stew of stormwater and rotting garlic into the creek in early February. By the end of April, Christopher Ranch must submit a detailed study of its underground pipes and a work plan to upgrade the system.
“We’ll have no problem meeting those deadlines, and there’s very little that they’ve asked us to do that hasn’t been done already in the past,” said owner Bill Christopher. “We’ll be hiring a company to do underground mapping. We’re going to do above and beyond what we’ve been asked for.”
The company has already submitted an existing map of underground piping that helped allay fears about a second discharge from the same pipe in late February. Higgins and a warden with the California Department of Fish and Game said the second discharge, which occurred Feb. 27 during a rainstorm, likely involved stormwater runoff that entered the pipe at different point than the source of the wastewater spill discovered Feb. 3.
The latter, which suffocated thousands of fish and laid waste to plants along an eighth-of-a-mile stretch of water, was traced to an underground storage tank a few hundred feet from the creek’s bank. After discovering the spill, Christopher cut the line between an above-ground hand crank and the tank’s release valve more than six feet below. He also locked the hand crank to prevent its use.
Regulators welcomed the fixes but treated them as a starting point for system-wide improvements.
“We are concerned that Christopher Ranch may retain the ability to pollute surface waters by discharging commingled wastewater,” the March 16 letter states. “Your wastewater pipelines, storm drains, and pipelines discharging to surface waters may be interconnected so as to commingle water in a manner unknown to you … This is because parts of the system are more than 50 years old and your institutional memory may not include information, such as drawings or plans, that shows where all the pipelines are located.”
Among other things, the agency ordered the installation of a back-up pump system to ensure that wastewater is channeled to treatment ponds and discharged safely into the ground. Higgins believes the initial spill occurred because the pump failed and water built up in the storage vault, which in turn was released into the pipe that feeds into the creek.
The law penalizes not only polluters who intentionally discharge, but those who cause environmental damage through negligence. A questioning of employees by Christopher did not root out the person who released the wastewater, but the ranch could still face penalties at the hands of state and federal officials. Federal law, for instance, allows fines of up to $12,500 for the death of every fish on the threatened species list.
Officials are still conducting tests on fish collected in the wake of the initial spill. Authorities believe at least 10 Steelhead Trout, a threatened species, were among the thousands that died.
Ken Rosenblatt, a Santa Clara County district attorney in the environmental protection unit, declined to comment Friday except to say the investigation is ongoing. In the wake of the second discharge in late February, he said the agency was investigating the matter with “deep concern.”
