The director may revoke or suspend a wastewater discharge permit for good cause, including, but not limited to, the following reasons:
1. Failure to notify the director in writing of significant changes to the wastewater prior to the changed discharge;
2. Failure to provide prior notification to the director of changed conditions pursuant to section 15.40.340 of this chapter;
3. Intentional misrepresentation or failure to fully disclose all relevant facts in the wastewater discharge permit application;
4. Falsifying self-monitoring or other reports;
5. Tampering with monitoring equipment;
6. Refusing to allow the city personnel timely access to the facility premises and records or refusing to allow the city to sample wastewater or discharges;
7. Failure to meet effluent limitations;
8. Failure to pay fines;
9. Failure to pay sewer charges or fees;
10. Failure to meet compliance schedules;
11. Failure to complete a wastewater discharge permit application; or
12. Violation of any pretreatment standard or requirement, or any terms of the wastewater discharge permit or this chapter.
Additionally, the director may immediately suspend a user’s wastewater discharge permit, after informal notice to the user, whenever such emergency suspension is necessary to stop an actual or threatened discharge which in the director’s opinion appears to present or cause an imminent or substantial danger to the health or welfare of persons or threatens to substantially interfere with the operation of the city’s sanitary sewer system, or which presents, or may present, a danger to the environment. Such informal notice shall, where time permits, be in the form of notice of violations or cease and desist orders. Where, in the director’s opinion, the danger posed by the discharge is such that it is infeasible, impractical, or dangerous to take the time necessary to issue a notice of violation or cease and desist order, the informal notice to the user may be in the form of a telephone call to the user or to the emergency contact listed in the user’s wastewater discharge permit.
The director shall provide fifteen (15) days’ prior written notice of revocation or suspension of a wastewater discharge permit, including the reasons for such revocation or suspension. The permit holder may, within such fifteen (15) days, appeal the revocation or suspension to the city council pursuant to the procedures in chapter 2.80 of this code. The city council’s decision on such an appeal shall be final. The wastewater discharge permit shall remain in effect during the pendency of such a timely appeal.
Any user notified of an emergency suspension of its wastewater discharge permit shall immediately stop or eliminate its discharge to the city’s sanitary sewer system. In the event of a user’s failure to immediately comply voluntarily with the suspension order or inability of the director to contact the user, the director may take such steps as deemed necessary to prevent or minimize damage to the city’s sanitary sewer system, the receiving waters, or endangerment of public health, including immediate severance of the sewer connection or discontinuing water service. The director may allow the user to recommence its discharge only after the user has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the director that the period of emergency has passed, unless proceedings are initiated by the director to permanently terminate the user’s discharge pursuant to section 15.40.480(6).
A user that is responsible, in whole or in part, for any discharge requiring an emergency suspension shall submit a detailed written statement describing the causes of the harmful contribution and the measures taken to prevent any further occurrence to the director prior to the date of any show cause or termination hearing. Such user shall reimburse the city for all costs which the city may incur as a result of such discharge or the imposition of an emergency suspension.
If the wastewater discharge permit is revoked or suspended, the director may sever all pertinent connections to the city’s sanitary sewer system. If the wastewater discharge permit is suspended or revoked, neither it nor service shall be reinstated until the user submits proof, satisfactory to the director, of compliance with this chapter, and reimburses the city for all costs incurred in suspending or revoking the wastewater discharge permit. Suspension or termination of discharge shall not be a bar to, or prerequisite for, taking any other action against the user pursuant to section 15.40.480 of this chapter.
(Ord. 2481 §1 (part))