(A) General provisions.
(1) Any violation of pretreatment standards or requirements (limits, sampling, analysis, reporting and meeting compliance schedules and regulatory deadlines) is an instance of non-compliance for which the industrial user is liable for enforcement including penalties. However, the District is required to identify violations or patterns of violations by industrial users that are deemed to be instances of significant non-compliance (SNC). To the extent that a violation or pattern of violations is determined to be significant non-compliance, the District shall give additional priority to enforcement actions with regard to that industrial user. Additionally, the determination of significant non-compliance shall be used as the basis for reporting the same to the regulatory authorities and publishing of the list of significant non-compliers as may be required of the District by law.
(2) For purposes of this provision, a significant industrial user or any industrial user that violates the enforcement sections of this chapter, is in significant non-compliance if its violation meets one or more of the following criteria.
(B) Violations of wastewater discharge limits.
(1) Chronic violations. Violations in which 66% or more of all the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 C.F.R. § 403.3(l).
(2) Technical review criteria violations. Violations in which 33% or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 C.F.R. § 403.3(l), multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC=1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil and grease and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH).
(3) Other effluent limit violations. Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement, as defined by 40 C.F.R. § 403.3(l) (Daily Maximum, Long-term Average, Instantaneous Limit or Narrative Standard), that the District determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference (e.g., slug loads) or pass-through (including adverse effect on any toxicity testing), or endangered the health of the sewage treatment personnel or the public.
(4) Danger to human health or welfare. This criterion includes any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment and has resulted in the POTW’s exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge.
(C) Violation of compliance milestones. A failure to meet, within 90 days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a District permit or administrative order for starting construction, completing construction or attaining final compliance.
(D) Failure to provide proper data. A failure to provide, within 45 days after the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports and reports on compliance with compliance schedules.
(E) Failure to accurately report non-compliance. A failure of a user to accurately and promptly report any non-compliance. Any attempt to circumvent the reporting requirements or otherwise withhold non-compliance data from the District shall be subject to SNC status.
(F) Other violations. Any other violation or group of violations, which may include a violation of best management practices, that the District determines may adversely affect its operations or the accomplishment of the objectives of this chapter.
(Ord. 2022-02, passed 3-31-2022)