A. General Guidelines: The discharging of any toxicants into the sanitary sewer system is subject to the guidelines set forth in the city's local limits as established by the city. The city may make the established local limits more stringent, and additional toxicants may be added to the local limits guidelines upon determination that a toxicant is harmful to human health, the wastewater collection system, treatment facility, or prevents economical disposal of sludge. An industrial wastewater pretreatment system or device may be required by the city to treat industrial flows prior to discharge to the sewer system when it is necessary to restrict or prevent the discharge to the sewer of certain waste constituents, to distribute more equally over a longer time period any peak discharges of industrial wastewaters or to accomplish any pretreatment result required by the city. Any pretreatment systems or devices shall not be installed or operated without the prior approval of the superintendent but such approval shall not absolve the industrial discharger of the responsibility of meeting any industrial effluent limitation required by the city. If inspection of pretreatment systems or devices by authorized personnel of the city reveals such systems are not installed or operating in conformance with the plans and procedures submitted to the city, or are not operating in compliance with the effluent limitations required by the city, the industrial discharger shall make those modifications necessary to meet city requirements. In special cases, the city may require construction of sewer lines by the discharger to convey certain industrial wastes to a specific sewer. All pretreatment systems judged by the city to require engineering design shall have plans prepared and signed by an engineer of suitable discipline licensed by the state of Montana. Normally, a gravity separation interceptor, equalizing tank, neutralization chamber and control manhole or other monitoring facility will be required respectively to remove prohibited settleable and floatable solids, to equalize wastewater streams varying greatly in quantity and/or quality, to neutralize low or high pH flows, and to facilitate inspection, flow measurement and sampling. Floor drains from commercial or manufacturing buildings, warehouses or multiuse structures shall not discharge directly to the sewer, but shall first discharge to a gravity separation interceptor.
B. National Pretreatment Standards: The city has the authority to and will comply with the public participation requirements of 40 CFR part 25 in the enforcement of national pretreatment standards. This will include at least annual public notification of industrial users which, at any time during the previous twelve (12) months, were in significant noncompliance with applicable pretreatment requirements.
C. Reporting Requirements: Significant noncategorical industrial users shall submit to the city, at least once every six (6) months (on dates specified by the city), a description of the nature, concentration, and flow of the pollutants required to be sampled by the city. These reports shall be based on sampling and analysis performed in accordance with the techniques described in 40 CFR part 136 and amendments thereto. This sampling and analysis may be performed by the city in lieu of the significant industrial user. Where the wastewater treatment facility itself collects all the information for the report, the significant industrial user will not be required to submit a report.
D. Bypasses: An industrial user may allow bypass to occur which does not cause pretreatment standards or requirements to be violated but only if it also is for essential maintenance to assure efficient operation. These bypasses are not subject to the provisions of subsections E and F of this section.
E. Notice:
1. When an industrial user knows in advance of the needs for a bypass, it shall submit prior notice to the superintendent, if possible, at least ten (10) days before the date of the bypass.
2. An industrial user shall submit oral notice of an unanticipated bypass that exceeds applicable pretreatment standards to the City within twenty four (24) hours from the time the industrial user becomes aware of the bypass. A written submission shall also be provided within five (5) days of the time the industrial user becomes aware of the bypass. The written submission shall contain a description of the bypass and its cause, the duration of the bypass, including exact dates and times, and if the bypass has not been corrected, the anticipated time of the correction and steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate, and prevent recurrence of the bypass. The city may waive the written report on a case by case basis if the oral report has been received within twenty four (24) hours.
F. Prohibition Of Bypass:
1. Bypass is prohibited and the superintendent may take enforcement action against an industrial user for bypass unless:
a. The bypass was unavoidable to prevent loss of life, personal injury, or severe property damage;
b. There were no feasible alternatives to the bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treatment facilities, retention of untreated wastes, or maintenance during normal periods of equipment downtime. This condition is not satisfied if adequate backup equipment should have been installed in the exercise of reasonable engineering judgment to prevent a bypass which occurred during normal periods of equipment downtime or preventive maintenance; and
c. The industrial user submitted notices as required under subsection E of this section.
2. The city may approve an anticipated bypass, after considering its adverse effects, if the city determines that it will meet the three (3) conditions listed in subsection F1 of this section.
G. Dilution Of Discharge: No industrial user shall increase the use of process water or in any way attempt to dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with any applicable limitations. The city in consultation with the user shall determine whether a dilution has occurred.
H. Accidental Discharge:
1. Each industrial user shall provide to the superintendent written procedures for handling accidental discharges to the city wastewater utility of materials or substances regulated by this chapter.
a. Each industrial user shall permanently post a spill prevention and notification procedure in compliance with this section on its bulletin board and prominently display the procedure at each area of possible accidental discharge.
b. In the case of an accidental discharge, no industrial user shall fail to notify immediately by telephone the city of the location of the discharge, type of waste, concentration, volume, and corrective actions.
c. Within five (5) working days following an accidental discharge, the industrial user shall submit to the city a detailed written report describing the cause of the discharge and measures to be taken by the industrial user to prevent similar future occurrences. Such notification does not relieve the industrial user of any expense, loss, damage, or liability that may be incurred from damage to the wastewater utility or quality of receiving stream, or any other damage to persons or property. Nor does such notification relieve the industrial user from any fines, civil penalties, or other liabilities that may be imposed by this chapter or other applicable law.
2. The city may require installation, operation, and maintenance of facilities to prevent accidental discharge of such materials or substances, at the user's expense.
3. The city has the authority to evaluate whether each significant industrial user needs a plan to control slug discharges. For purposes of this subsection, a slug discharge is any nonroutine, episodic event, including, but not limited to, accidental spills or noncustomary batch discharges. The results of such activities shall be available to the city upon request. If the city determines a slug control plan is necessary, the plan shall contain, at a minimum, the following elements:
a. A description of discharge practices, including nonroutine batch discharges;
b. A description of stored chemicals;
c. Procedures for immediately notifying the city of slug discharges, including any discharge that would violate a prohibition under 40 CFR 403.5(b), with procedures for follow up written notification within five (5) days; and
d. If necessary, procedures to prevent adverse impact from accidental spills, including inspection and maintenance of storage areas, handling and transfer of materials, loading and unloading operations, control of plant site runoff, worker training, building of containment structures for equipment, and measures for containing toxic materials, and equipment for emergency response.
I. Reporting Requirements:
1. Within ninety (90) days following the date for final compliance with applicable pretreatment standards including local limits or, in the case of a new source, following commencement of the introduction of wastewater into the wastewater utility, any user subject to pretreatment standards and requirements shall submit to the city a report indicating the nature and concentration of all pollutants in the discharge from the regulated process which are limited by pretreatment standards and requirements. The report shall state whether the applicable pretreatment standards or requirements are being met on a consistent basis and, if not, what additional operation and maintenance and/or pretreatment is necessary to bring the user into compliance with the applicable pretreatment standards or requirements. This statement shall be signed by an authorized representative of the industrial user and certified by a qualified professional.
2. All industrial users that discharge prohibited substances or specific pollutants that may cause a significant impact on the wastewater utility shall submit to the city during the months of June and December or other months designated by the superintendent a report containing information and data specified by the superintendent and signed by an authorized representative of the industrial user and certified by a qualified professional. (Ord. 214, 11-18-1997; amd. Ord. 279, 4-19-2022)