(A) Violations and discrepancies that have been identified during the review/screening process are to be forwarded to the Pretreatment Coordinator for his or her review and evaluation as to the type of enforcement response necessary. In order to ensure equitable treatment of violators and provide a stronger basis for the selection of appropriate responses to violations, the following enforcement response guide (ERG) should normally be followed.
(B) (1) The enforcement response guide indicates the type of noncompliance, the circumstances which might vary the type of response and the range of responses for the particular category of noncompliance.
(2) The enforcement response guide has been developed with the intention of serving the following two main purposes.
(a) It recommends enforcement responses that are appropriate in relation to the nature and severity of the violation and the overall degree of noncompliance.
(b) It provides a guide to encourage a uniform application of enforcement responses to comparable levels in types of violations, and it can be used as a mechanism to review the appropriateness of the response.
(C) (1) The enforcement response guide groups various types of violations into the following four categories.
I | Violations of sampling, monitoring and reporting |
II | Violations of compliance schedules |
III | Violations of discharge limitations |
IV | Violations detected through inspection or field monitoring |
(2) All four category type violations include those established in SIU permits and the town’s sewer use ordinance (SUO) and cover local and/or best management practice (BMP) limits.
(D) In order to provide a concise manual in a usable format, acronyms have been used for several of the types of response. A definition of the acronyms is as follows and is listed in increasing order of severity.
(1) VTN or VERBAL TELEPHONE NOTICE. This is meant to describe a response to a very minor type of violation which is normally conveyed verbally to the contact person at the industry, and no further follow up normally is expected. This is utilized when there is a very minor infraction, such as a report being received one or two days late or abnormal wastewater monitoring data. Telephone contact is logged and kept on file.
(2) LOV or LETTER OF VIOLATION. This is the most widely used and is a written notification to the industrial user indicating the type of apparent violation and requesting a response within ten days indicating a reason for the noncompliance and what steps are being taken to eliminate any future violations of this nature. Depending on the severity of the situation, information on the matter maybe presented to the Superintendent.
(3) AO or ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER. An ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER would be in such cases where the pretreatment program believed the industrial user was committed to providing necessary corrective measures to correct previous violations, and would utilize the ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER to outline minor compliance schedules, along with other conditions that might be required, such as additional monitoring, more reporting and the like. The ORDER would normally contain a short time frame of one month to six months.
(4) ECS or ENFORCEMENT COMPLIANCE SCHEDULE. This is a formal ENFORCEMENT COMPLIANCE SCHEDULE signed by both the pretreatment program and the industry involved. This control mechanism is used when serious or long-term violations of discharge limits occur that require the design and installation of new or additional pretreatment equipment. Usually the time frame will be six months to one year. Violations of the ECS can result in the next step, consisting of administrative fines.
(5) LIT or LITIGATION. LITIGATION is utilized to define several courses of action, including civil suits for injunctive relief and/or civil penalties, criminal suits, termination of service and the like. These types of actions would all involve the courts, the Town Attorney or an appointed attorney and would follow the procedures necessary for due process.
(E) Utilizing the enforcement response guide, the Pretreatment Coordinator will initiate the appropriate response and see that the tracking files and violation files have been updated to show the type of action being taken and the response date, if one is so indicated, in the type of action taken. The Pretreatment Coordinator will also initiate any field surveying which is deemed appropriate to substantiate previous data received or to double check the response of an industrial user to the action which the user has indicated that the user has taken.
(F) On a quarterly basis, the Pretreatment Coordinator will be responsible for reviewing the industry file to determine any significant violators for the previous six months (rolling basis period). If significant violators are identified, the Pretreatment Coordinator shall be responsible for determining whether a formal enforcement action is warranted in accordance with the ERG and that the name of all significant violators are published in the local daily newspaper on an annual basis.
(Ord. 7-2010, passed 11-22-2010)