A California water agency has ordered Modesto-based wine giant E. & J. Gallo Winery to pay $378,668 in fines for discharging irrigation and wastewater into the Merced River.
According to a news release from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Aug. 9, 2021 discharge included more than 90,000 gallons of wastewater mixed with irrigation well water from a Livingston wine-making facility.
A report from a concerned citizen led to the board initiating an investigation. Control board staff confirmed the discharge that contained elevated levels of organic matter, potassium and salinity had occurred.
Those substances can pose a threat to the health of fish and other aquatic life.
“Protecting the water quality of our creeks and rivers is a core duty of the regional board,” Clay Rodgers, assistant executive officer of the board, said in the release.
He added “discharges like these put the health of our waterways at risk, and the penalty reflects the seriousness of this violation. Gallo has also agreed to steps to prevent this from happening again in the future.”
The penalty formula used by the control board calculated multiple factors such as the estimated size of the discharge and its impact on water quality.
According to the release, additional check valves in a specific pipeline location have been installed in an effort to prevent wastewater flowing in the irrigation system toward the river.
Half of the $378,668 will be dedicated to a supplemental environmental project, according to the board.
The amount will pay for a portion of a restroom and septic tank leach field relocation project at Hagaman Park in Livingston.
The remaining $189,334 will be paid by Gallo to the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, according to the release.
The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board is responsible for protecting water quality and ensuring beneficial uses like aquatic habitat and human health for 11,350 miles of streams, 579,110 acres of lakes, and the largest contiguous groundwater basin in California, the release said.
