ROY COOPER Govemer MICHAEL S. REGAN ‘Secretary LINDA CULPEPPER Water Resources “interim Director Environmental Quai oe May 21, 2018 CERTIFIED MAIL 7016 2140 0000 0562 4417 RETURN RECEIPT REQUEST. ‘Next Generation Family Ventures LLC ‘Next Generation 3 418 Willard Edwards Rd Sr 1723 Beulaville, NC 28518 SUBJECT: Lagoon Sampling - April 13, 2018 ‘Next Generation 3 Permit # AWS310713 Duplin County Dear Next Generation Family Ventures LLC: ‘Thank you for your cooperation in the Division’s lagoon waste sampling efforts on April 13,2018. On that day seven teams of Division staff sampled 35 farms and a total of 55 waste lagoons. Multiple teams were necessary to assure that teams followed proper biosecurity protocols to protect your animals. I apologize for the short notice that was provided to you by our staff. It was our intent to do the sampling as efficiently and effectively as possible with as little disruption to you and other operators. ‘Staff notified you as soon as possible once we were comfortable that weather would cooperate and we had staff prepared to complete the desired sampling on a single day. Complete results of the sampling are available on the NCDA&CS Agronomic Services Division PALS website and can be accessed there at your convenience. http://www ncagr.gov/agronomi/pals/ ‘The Division submitted the samples to the lab on April 13, and the standard waste analysis was performed the following week. The certified results are available to use for loading rate calculations in you waste application records. Our staff followed sampling protocol established by NCDA&CS Agronomic Sampling Folder No. 6, revised April 2014, a copy of which is included with this letter. You may at any time resample ‘your lagoons to establish updated results if you feel more representative sample is desired for future application events. One of the intents of the sampling effort was to look at observed changes in lagoon sampling results in a relatively short period of time, Our records show that a previous sampling event took place on March 17, 2018. Results of the April 13 and March 17 sampling events are shown on the following pages for each lagoon sampled on your farm. The results show a significant difference in the PAN concentrations as well as other macro and micro ‘nutrients that put into questions the validity of the March 17 sampling results. It is unlikely that a lagoon make-up will change significantly in a month without significant operations event occurring like a lagoon sludge clean out. Staff also noted a high observed sludge blanket in your lagoon; however, have not yet obtained records of the last sludge survey to verify visual observation. For these reasons the Division has deemed the March 17® sampling results for lagoon NG3 to be invalid until additional information or explanation can be provided to justify differences in sampling results. More details on the information requested to validate the March 17* sampling data is included below <>-Nothing Compares" ‘State of Not Crain | nviroentl Qealiy | Division of Water Resnrces ‘Water Quality Repenal Operation Section 1626 Mail Service Center| Raleigh, North Caroline 276991636 918-7079129Lagoon Sampling — April 13, 2018 Page 2 Lagoon Name: NG3 ‘Sample Date 3/17 -4/13 Parameter 3/17/2018 4/13/2018 Difference | 9% change 516 968 452 87% 22 40 19 88% 39 217 178 459% 420 889) 469 112% 108 334) 27 211% 26 163 B37 533% 29 115 86 301% 24 515 49.2 2080% 03 Sa 48 11667% O7 16.7 16.1 2422% 02 212 21.0 9825% 04 09 04 102% 162.7 218.0 55.3 34% 75 17 02 2% 06 0.0 06 93% Asa result of initial evaluation of the sampling results the Division will be conducting additional evaluation of historic data at your farms and at the other farms that were sampled on April 13, 2018. It is necessary to farther investigate the unusual changes in lagoon characteristics between March 17 and April 13, 2018. To assist in the investigation please provide the following to the Wilmingion Regional Office no later than June 21, 2018, © Results of the last 2 years of sludge survey, including information on who conducted the survey. ‘© Records of any sludge removal that occurred between March 17 and April 14, 2018. ‘© Any operational changes that may have contributed to the lagoon characteristics between March 17 and April 13, 2017, © Results of any additional lagoon waste analysis for the lagoon in question conducted since March 17, 2018 Please contact the Wilmington Regional Office at (910) 796-7215 or Christine Lawson at (919) 807- 6354 if you have further questions. Enclosure Sincerely, ‘Chief, Water Quality Regional Operations Section Division of Water Resources cc: Wilmington WQROS Regional Supervisor ‘WQROS Central Files >