(a) The City may take any action necessary to immediately halt a wastewater discharge by any User if:
(1) Imminent endangerment to the health or welfare of people, to the environment, or to the POTW is presented.
(2) A discharge would cause the City to violate its NPDES permit.
(3) A User fails to factually report wastewater constituents or characteristics.
(4) A User fails to report significant changes in wastewater constituents or characteristics.
(5) A User refuses reasonable access to its premises for the purpose of monitoring and inspection.
(b) When a User is in violation of any limitation or requirement of this chapter or any other applicable federal or state law, the City Manager shall serve a written notice to such User, stating the nature of the violation. Within 30 days of the date of the notice, a plan for satisfactory correction of the violation shall be submitted to the City Manager by the User. If the violation is not corrected by timely compliance, the User shall appear before the City Commission to show reason why enforcement action should not be taken. A written notice specifying the time and place of such hearing shall be served on the User at least 10 days before the hearing.
(c) If any person discharges sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes into the City's wastewater disposal system contrary to the provisions of this chapter, federal or state pretreatment requirements or any order of the City, the City Solicitor may, following the authorization of such action by the City Commission, commence an action for appropriate legal and/or equitable relief in the Circuit Court of this County. Violations shall be deemed a misdemeanor and will be subject to a fine not exceeding $500.00. Each day or portion thereof during which such a violation occurs shall be considered a separate offense.
(d) Any discharger violating any of the provisions of this chapter, or who discharges or causes a discharge producing a deposit or obstruction, or causes damage to or impairs the Authority's wastewater disposal system shall be liable to the Authority for any expense, loss, or damage caused by such violation or discharge. The Authority shall bill the discharger for the costs incurred by the Authority for any cleaning, repair, or replacement work caused by the violation or discharge.
(e) A list of all dischargers which were the subject of enforcement proceedings pursuant to this chapter during the 12 previous months, shall be annually published by the Authority in the largest daily newspaper, published in the municipality in which the Authority is located, summarizing the enforcement actions taken against the dischargers during the same 12 months whose violations remained uncorrected 45 or more days after notification of noncompliance, or which have exhibited a pattern of noncompliance over that 12-month period, or which involve failure to accurately report noncompliance.
(f) Any discharger or interested party shall have the right to request in writing an interpretation or ruling by the Authority on any matter covered by this chapter and shall be entitled to a prompt written reply. In the event that such inquiry is by a discharger and deals with matters of a compliance with this chapter for which enforcement activity relating to an alleged violation which is the subject, receipt of a discharger's request shall stay all enforcement proceedings pending receipt of the aforesaid written reply.
(g) Any discharger which experiences an upset in operations which places the discharger in a temporary state of noncompliance with this chapter shall inform the Authority within 24 hours of first awareness of the commencement of the upset. A written follow-up report shall be filed with the Authority within 5 days which specifies:
(1) A description of the upset, cause of it, and impact on the discharger's compliance status.
(2) Duration of noncompliance including exact dates and times and the time compliance is expected to occur.
(3) Steps taken or will be taken to reduce, eliminate, and prevent recurrence of the upset.
A documented and verified bonafide operating upset shall be an affirmative defense to any enforcement action brought by the Authority against a Discharger for any noncompliance with the chapter which arises out of violations alleged to have occurred during the period of the upset.
(h) All Dischargers subject to this chapter shall retain and preserve for no less than 3 years, any records, books, documents, memoranda, reports, correspondence, and any and all summaries thereof relating to monitoring, sampling, and chemical analyses made by or on behalf of a discharger. Records which pertain to matters subject to Administrative Adjustment or any other enforcement or litigation activities brought by the Authority shall be retained and preserved by the discharger until all enforcement activities have concluded and all periods of limitation with respect to appeals have expired.
(Ord. 85-33. Passed 6-4-85.)
(Ord. 85-33. Passed 6-4-85.)