---

The regional water quality board fined Tracy $78,000 for 26 violations at its sewage treatment plant, while the Mountain House Community Services District was fined $30,000 for similar charges and Deuel Vocational Institution was fined $12,000 for dumping too much salt and laundry chemicals into a Delta slough.

Treated sewage at Mountain House and Tracy sewage treatment plants flow into Old River, a tributary of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

At both locations, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board found higher-than-legal concentrations of chemicals that may have been byproducts from using chlorine to clean drinking water.

Tracy also tested high for levels of aluminum and chlorine.

During the board’s last violation check-up, which went from Jan. 1, 2003 to Jan. 31, 2008, Tracy had 47 violations for a total fine of $141,000.

“I don’t think there’s any immediate health impact, but we’re not the health agency,” said Wendy Wyels, a water board regulator.

Mountain House was originally going to be fined $33,000 for pollution violations from Feb. 1 to Dec. 31, 2008, but it was cut $3,000 when district general manager Paul Sensibaugh told the board that part of the problem related to chemicals released by plastic tubes had been taken care of.

“Of course, we’ve solved the problem so there won’t be any repeats,” Sensibaugh said. “If we pay it right after July 1, they’ll be happy with that. We’ll make the commitment. We want to keep on the good side and do our part. If we make a mistake, we’ve got to own up to it.”

From March 2007 to January 2008, Mountain House had just one $3,000 violation from the board. Problems with their sewage treatment plant led to the latest fines.

Deuel Vocational Institute near Tracy was fined $12,000 violations from June 1 to December 31, 2008. The prison’s treatment plant releases its treated sewage into Paradise Cut and Old River.

Wyels said that DVI tested high for salt and two volatile chemicals usually involved with laundry. From June 2004 through May 2008, DVI racked up 33 penalties for $66,000 for high levels of oil, grease and other industrial chemicals.

These were part of a $225,000 round of fines throughout the Central Valley. The board’s next meeting is June 11 or 12 in Rancho Cordova. Comments and complaints regarding to the fines can be heard then.

n Contact Tracy Press reporter Justin Lafferty at 830-4269 or jlafferty@tracypress.com