100.30 CERTIFICATION AND SIGNATORY REQUIREMENTS.

1.   All applications or reports submitted by a user shall contain the following certification statement:

      “I certify under penalty of law that this document and all attachments were prepared under my direction or supervision in accordance with a system designed to assure that qualified personnel properly gather and evaluate the information submitted. Based on my inquiry of the person or persons who manage the system, or those persons directly responsible for gathering the information, the information submitted is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true, accurate, and complete. I am aware that there are significant penalties for submitting false information, including the possibility of fine and imprisonment for knowing violations.”

2.   All applications and reports shall be signed by an authorized representative of the user as defined in Section 100.01. Users shall maintain a current and accurate authorization on file with the WRA Director.

100.31 MONITORING FACILITIES.

1.   Permitted users, when required by the WRA Director, shall provide and operate monitoring facilities to allow inspection, sampling, and flow measurement of the building sewer, or internal drainage systems at their own expense. The WRA Director may require the placement of such monitoring facilities at the end of each process where pollutants are used, produced, or treated. The monitoring facility should normally be situated on the user's premises and located so that it will not be obstructed by landscaping or parked vehicles.

2.   When required by permit and within 90 days of written notification, users shall install a sampling chamber for each separate discharge of the building sewer in accordance with plans and specifications approved by the WRA Director. Users shall provide ample room in or near such sampling chamber to allow accurate sampling and preparation of samples for analysis. Users shall maintain all sampling and measuring equipment in a safe and proper operating condition at all times and at the expense of the user, which equipment shall be safely, easily and independently accessible to authorized representatives of the WRA. Users shall certify all flow measuring devices to be in proper working condition at a frequency specified in the permit or in writing by the Administrator or WRA Director using a qualified technician acceptable to the Administrator or WRA Director.

   A.   Each sampling chamber shall contain a flume unless another device is approved by the WRA, with a recording and totalizing device for measurement of the liquid quantity.

   B.   At the discretion of the WRA Director, metered water supply to a user may be used as the volume quantity where it is substantiated that the metered water supply and waste quantities are approximately the same, or where a measurable adjustment agreed to by the Director is made in the metered water supply to determine the liquid waste quantity. Separate meters may be used to subtract water which is not discharged to the POTW or is discharged to a sewer other than the sampled location.

   C.   Samples shall be taken at a frequency and volume determined by the WRA Director, and shall be properly refrigerated and preserved in accordance with EPA-approved methods. The sample shall be composited in proportion to the flow for a representative 24-hour sample. A time proportioned 24-hour sample may be used if flow proportioned sampling is determined by the WRA Director to be impractical. Grab samples shall be used where appropriate.

3.   Users must inform the WRA Director prior to breaking a sampler seal, used to detect sample tampering, unless necessary to prevent loss of life, personal injury, or severe property damage. Users must not place additional seals or locks upon a sampler which may be used by the WRA without first obtaining approval from the WRA Director.

100.32 INSPECTION, SAMPLING, AND RECORD KEEPING AUTHORITY.

Users shall give the following authorities to the WRA and its operating contractor:

1.   Users shall permit authorized representatives or agents of the WRA to enter upon all properties and all parts of the premises or upon properties of users with wastewater discharge permits for the purposes of inspection, sampling, records examination, records copying, or the performance of any of their duties. This shall include the right to set up, on the user's property, such devices as are necessary to conduct sampling, inspection, compliance monitoring, or metering operations as may be required in pursuance of the implementation and enforcement of this chapter.

2.   Where a user has security measures in force which would require proper identification and clearance before entry into their premises, the user shall make necessary arrangements in the security measures so that, upon presentation of suitable identification, personnel from the WRA or operating contractor will be permitted to enter, without delay, for the purposes of performing their specific responsibilities.

3.   All users subject to any of the reporting requirements of this chapter shall maintain copies of reports and records of all information as required in 40 CFR 403.12(o) resulting from any monitoring activities required by this chapter for a minimum of three (3) years and shall make such records available for inspection and copying by the WRA and its operating contractor. This period of retention shall be extended until the completion of any unresolved negotiation, hearing, or litigation involving a purported violation.

100.33 CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.

1.   Except as herein provided, documents, data and information obtained from user reports, questionnaires, permit applications and inspections, shall be made available to the public or other governmental agencies without restriction. If the user specifically requests and is able to demonstrate that the release of such information would divulge information concerning processes or methods of production entitled to protection under law as trade secrets of the user or would give advantage to competitors and serve no public purpose the WRA Director shall not make such information available to the public but such information shall be available to the U.S. EPA or IDNR.

2.   Decisions by the WRA Director to deny confidential status for information may be appealed using the procedures in Section 100.34. In determining whether information is confidential, the provision of Chapter 22 of the Code of Iowa shall prevail.

3.   Effluent data and WRA enforcement actions will not be considered confidential records or information.

100.34 APPEAL OF DENIAL OF CONFIDENTIAL STATUS.

1.   Any person aggrieved by a decision to release information or data obtained as provided in subsection 100.33(1) of this chapter and who can demonstrate a direct and substantial interest in the information or data sought to be kept confidential may appeal the decision of the WRA Director. A request for appeal shall be filed in writing with the Director not less than five days after the decision to deny confidential status to such information or data. The appeal request shall include a statement of the basis upon which the request for confidential status is made, as well as the appealing party's interest in the information or data sought to be kept confidential. The WRA Director may request additional information from the appeal party.

2.   Based upon the information provided by the appealing party, the WRA Director shall make a determination with respect to the confidentiality of the information or data at issue. The WRA Director shall notify the parties, in writing, of the decision within seven days after receipt of the appeal.

3.   If still aggrieved by the WRA Director's determination on appeal, a party may file an action in Polk County District Court, seeking a declaratory ruling with respect to the confidentiality of such documents, data and information, or seeking an injunction to prevent the disclosure of same.

4.   During the pendency of an appeal to the WRA Director, the documents, data or information at issue shall be kept confidential. However, if during the pendency of such appeal, a request for examination or copying of such documents, data or information is made of the WRA or its operating contractor pursuant to Chapter 22 of the Code of Iowa, the WRA or its operating contractor will notify the appealing party of such request for disclosure and will keep confidential the requested documents, data or information, pending action by the appealing party to defend its confidentiality request. In that notification, the appealing party requesting confidentiality will be given not more than five calendar days within which to file suit in Polk County District Court seeking the entry of a declaratory order and/or injunction to protect and keep confidential such documents, data or information. If the appealing party fails to initiate suit within the time requested, the WRA Director shall release the documents, data or information at issue for public examination.

5.   If during the pendency of such appeal, a lawsuit is initiated pursuant to Chapter 22 of the Code of Iowa seeking the release of such documents, data or information, the appealing party shall take action to defend its confidentiality request in said lawsuit. If the appealing party fails to defend its confidentiality request in said suit, the WRA Director shall release the documents, date or information at issue for public examination.

100.35 PUBLIC NOTIFICATION OF SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE.

The WRA shall annually publish, in the largest daily newspaper published in the WRA community, a list of users which at any time during the previous twelve months, were in significant noncompliance as defined in Section 100.36 of this chapter.

100.36 SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE (SNC).

Any violation of pretreatment requirements (i.e., but not limited to: limits, sampling, analysis, reporting, meeting compliance schedules, and regulatory deadlines) is an instance of noncompliance for which the user is liable for enforcement, including penalties and injunctive relief. Instances of SNC are user violations which meet one or more of the following criteria:

1.   Violations of wastewater discharge limits.

   A.   Chronic Violations. Sixty-six percent (66%) or more of the measurements exceed the same daily maximum limit or the same average limit in a 6-month period (any magnitude of excess).

   B.   Technical Review Criteria (TRC) Violations. Thirty-three percent (33%) or more of the measurements exceed the same daily maximum limit or the same average limit by more than the TRC in a 6-month period. (e.g., limit x TRC = the point at which a violation becomes a TRC violation). There are two groups of TRC’s:

      Group I for conventional pollutants (BOD, TSS, FOG)   TRC = 1.4

      Group II for all other pollutants   TRC = 1.2

   C.   Any other violation(s) of a wastewater discharge permit limit (average or daily maximum) that the WRA Director believes has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference (including slug loads) or pass through; or endangered the health of the public or of the personnel of the WRA, or its operating contractor.

   D.   Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health/welfare or to the environment and has resulted in the exercise of emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge.

2.   Violations of compliance schedule milestones, contained in a wastewater discharge permit or enforcement order, for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance by ninety (90) days or more after the schedule date.

3.   Failure to provide reports for compliance schedules, self-monitoring data, or any other report required by the POTW within forty-five (45) days from the due date.

4.   Failure to accurately report noncompliance.

5.   Any other violations or group of violations, which may include a violation of Best Management Practices that the WRA Director considers to be significant.

When a user is in SNC, the WRA Director is directed to: (a) report the information to IDNR as part of the annual pretreatment performance summary of permitted user noncompliance; (b) include the user in the annual public notification according to Section 100.35; (c) address SNC through appropriate enforcement actions or document in a timely manner the reasons for withholding enforcement.