(A) Administrative fines. Notwithstanding any other sections of this chapter, any user who is found to have violated any provision of this chapter, or permits and orders issued hereunder, or any other pretreatment standard or requirement, shall be fined in an amount up to $2,000 per day per violation. Each day on which noncompliance shall occur or continue to occur shall be deemed a separate and distinct violation. In the case of monthly or other long-term average discharge limits, fines shall be assessed for each day during-the period of violation. Assessments shall be added to the user's next sewer service charge and the control authority shall have other collection remedies as he has to collect other service charges. Unpaid charges, fines and penalties shall constitute a lien against the individual user's property. Industrial users desiring to dispute the fine must file a request for the control authority to reconsider the fine within ten days of being notified of the fine. Where the control authority believes a request to have merit, he shall convene a hearing on the matter within 15 days of receiving the request from the user. Issuance of an administrative fine shall not be a bar against, or a prerequisite for, taking any other action against the user.
(B) Civil penalties.
(1) Any user who has violated or continues to violate this chapter or any permit or order issued hereunder, shall, be liable to the control authority for a civil penalty of up to $2,000, plus actual damages incurred by the city per violation per day for as long as the violation continues. In addition, the control authority may recover reasonable attorney fees, court costs and other expenses associated with the enforcement activities, including sampling and monitoring expenses.
(2) The control authority shall petition the court to impose, assess and recover the sums. In determining the amount of liability, the Court shall take into account all relevant circumstances, including, but not limited to the extent of harm caused by the violation, the magnitude and duration of the violation(s), any economic benefit gained by the user through failure to comply, corrective actions by the user, the compliance history of the user and any other factor as justice requires.
(C) Criminal prosecution.
(1) Violations, generally.
(a) Any user who willfully or negligently violates any provision of this chapter or any orders or permits issued hereunder, or any other pretreatment standard or requirement shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed $5,000 per violation per day or imprisonment for not more than one year or both.
(b) A user who willfully or negligently introduces any substance into the POTW which causes personal injury or property damage shall, upon conviction, be subject to a penalty of up to $2,000 per violation, per day, or be subject to imprisonment, or both, as provided by state law. This penalty shall be in addition to any other cause of action for personal injury or property damage available under state law.
(c) In the event of a second conviction, the user shall be punishable by a fine up to $2,000 per day per violation or imprisonment for not more than three years or both.
(2) Falsification of information.
(a) Any user who knowingly makes any false statements, representations or certifications in any application, record, report, plan or other document filed or required to be maintained by this chapter or discharge permit or order issued hereunder, or who falsifies, tampers with or knowingly renders inaccurate any monitoring device or method required under this chapter shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000 per violation per day or imprisonment for not more than one year or both.
(b) In the event of a second conviction, the user shall be punishable by a fine up to $2,000 per day per violation or imprisonment for not more than three years or both.
(D) Additional penalty.
(1) If a user whose violations(s) of this chapter is responsible for a violation of the city's NPDES permit and the assessment of a fine or penalty by SCDHEC on the city for the user caused violation, then the person whose violation is responsible for, the city's noncompliance shall be assessed a penalty of not less than that imposed upon the city by SCDHEC.
(2) The city shall pursue a policy of recovering any and all economic benefit from noncompliance in the assessment of penalties under this chapter.
(3) In addition to the penalties provided herein, the city may recover reasonable attorney fees, court costs, court reporter fees and other expenses of litigation by appropriate suit at law against the person found to have violated this chapter or the orders, rules, regulations and permits issued hereunder.
(4) The city shall disconnect sewer service for any person who is more than 90 days in arrears with payment of monthly sewer service charges. Reconnection may be permitted after payment of all charge and penalties as herein provided.
(E) Remedies nonexclusive. The remedies provided for in this chapter are not exclusive, the control authority may take any, all, or any combination of these actions against a noncompliant user. Enforcement of pretreatment violations will generally be in accordance with the city's enforcement response plan. However, the control authority may take other action against any user when the circumstances warrant. Further, the control authority is empowered to take more than one enforcement action against any noncompliant user.
(F) Affirmative defenses.
(1) Upset.
(a) Any user which experiences an upset in operations that places in a temporary state of noncompliance, which is not the result of operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance or careless or improper operation, shall inform the control authority, or his defense, thereof, immediately upon becoming aware of the upset. Where the information is given orally, written report thereof shall be filed the user within five days of the oral notification. The report shall contain:
1. A description of the upset, its cause and impact on the discharger's compliance status;
2. The duration of noncompliance, including exact dates and times of noncompliance, and if the noncompliance is continuing, the day by which compliance is reasonably expected to be restored; and
3. All steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate and prevent the recurrence of an upset.
(b) A user which complies with the notification provisions of this chapter in a timely manner shall have an affirmative defense to any enforcement action except those penalties assessed under division (C) above, by the city for any noncompliance with this chapter, or a permit order issued hereunder by the user, which arises out of violations attributable to and alleged to have occurred during the period of the documented and verified upset.
(2) Prohibited discharge standards. A user shall have an affirmative defense to an enforcement action brought against it for noncompliance with the general prohibitions in § 56.19(A) or the specific prohibitions in § 56.19(B) if it can prove that it did not know, or have reason to know, that its discharge, alone or in conjunction with discharges from other sources, would cause pass through or interference and that either:
(a) A local limit exists for each pollutant discharged and the user was in compliance with each limit directly prior to, and during, the pass through or interference; or
(b) No local limit exists, but the discharge did not change substantially in nature or constituents from the user's prior discharge when the city was regularly in compliance with its NPDES permit, and in the case of interference, was in compliance with applicable sludge use or disposal requirements.
(Ord. 16-04-001, passed 4-19–16)