(a) Short Title: The regulations in this Chapter shall be known as the "Illicit Discharge and Illegal Connection Ordinance of the City of Defiance, Ohio".
(b) Legislative Findings: This Chapter is predicated on legislative findings that illicit discharge of pollutants to the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System:
(1) Degrade water quality and endanger public health, public safety and the value of public and private property within the municipality;
(2) Necessitates wasteful expenditure of public funds to decontaminate storm water drainage facilities and repair sewers, drains, ditches and other storm water facilities; and,
(3) Is incompatible with efforts undertaken by the municipality and by Federal, State and other local governmental authorities to protect and enhance the Maumee River and Lake Erie watersheds and undermines the effectiveness of infrastructure improvements installed throughout the watershed at great public expense.
(c) Legislative Authority: Council finds that 40 C.F.R. Parts 9, 122, 123, and 124, and Ohio Administrative Code 3745-39 require the municipality to develop a Storm Water Management Program that prohibits the illicit discharge of pollutants to the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System and implements appropriate enforcement procedures to detect and eliminate such discharges. Council further finds that the adoption of the Regulations set forth in this Chapter constitutes a valid exercise of powers vested in the municipality by Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution.
(d) Purpose: These Regulations are enacted to provide for the health, safety, and general welfare of the City and its inhabitants.
(e) Intent: The intent of these Regulations is to prohibit, to the maximum practical extent, all discharge of substances other than naturally occurring storm water to the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System as required by federal and state law and regulations pertaining to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
(f) Methodology: These Regulations seek to eliminate the introduction of substances other than naturally occurring storm water to the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System by:
(1) Requiring compliance with reasonable controls to prevent contamination of storm water to minimize the conveyance of sediment, pollutants and contaminants to the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System by storm water;
(2) Prohibiting illicit discharges to the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System;
(3) Identifying and eliminating illegal connections to the Municipal Separate Storm sewer System; and,
(4) Establishing the requisite legal authority to carry out inspection, surveillance, monitoring, enforcement and abatement procedures necessary to ensure compliance with these Regulations.
(g) Administrative Responsibility: The City Administrator shall implement and enforce the provisions of this Chapter and may delegate such powers as are reposed the office of City Administrator by general law, Municipal Charter and Municipal Ordinances, including, without limitation, powers conferred by this Chapter, to the City Engineer and such other municipal personnel as may be designated by the City Administrator to perform duties imposed on the City Administrator by this Chapter.
(h) Applicability: These Regulations apply to all water and other substances entering the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System from any source, including undeveloped land, except those sources expressly exempted from regulation by Section 927.04
(d).
(i) Severability: The provisions of these Regulations are severable. In the event any provision of this Chapter, or the application of such provision to any person or under any circumstance shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the validity of other provisions of this Chapter or the applicability of the challenged provision to any other person or under any other circumstance.
(j) Minimum Standards: These Regulations are intended to establish minimum standards for the protection of the environment. Compliance with these Regulations does not assure that there will be no contamination, pollution or unauthorized discharge of pollutants.
(Ord. 7385. Passed 4-3-12.)