(A) Applicability. This section applies to all facilities that have stormwater discharge associated with industrial activity, including construction activity.
(B) Access to facilities.
(1) The Hammond Stormwater Management Division shall have all authority provided by law and pursuant to the terms and conditions of any applicable permit to enter and inspect facilities as often as may be necessary to determine compliance with this chapter. If a discharger has security measures in force that require proper identification and clearance before entry into its premises, the discharger shall make the necessary arrangements to allow access by properly identified representatives of the Stormwater Management Division or authorized enforcement agencies.
(2) Facility operators shall allow the Stormwater Management Division ready access to all parts of the premises for the purposes of inspection, sampling, examination and copying of records that must be kept as part of the conditions of an NPDES permit.
(3) The Department of Stormwater Management shall have the right to set up on any permitted facility such devices as are necessary in the opinion of the Department or an authorized enforcement agency to conduct monitoring and/or sampling of the facility’s stormwater discharge.
(4) The Stormwater Management Division shall have the right to require the discharger to install monitoring equipment as necessary. The facility’s sampling and monitoring equipment shall be maintained at all times in a safe and proper operating condition by the discharger at its own expense. All devices used to measure stormwater flow and quality shall be calibrated to ensure their accuracy.
(5) Any temporary or permanent obstruction or condition that would obstruct the safe and easy access to the facility to be sampled or monitored shall be promptly removed by the operator upon the oral or written request of the Stormwater Management Division and such obstruction shall not be replaced. The costs of clearing such access, if any, shall be borne by the facility.
(6) Unreasonable delays in allowing the Department of Stormwater Management access to a facility regulated under this chapter is a violation of this chapter of the Hammond Municipal Code. A person who is the operator of a facility with an NPDES permit to discharge stormwater associated with industrial activity commits an offense if the person denies reasonable access by the Stormwater Management Division or an authorized enforcement agency to the permitted facility for the purpose of conducting any activity authorized or required by this chapter.
(7) If the Stormwater Management Division has been refused access to any part of the premises from which stormwater is discharged, and it can demonstrate probable cause to believe that there may be a violation of this chapter or the code, or that there is a need to inspect and/or sample as part of a routine inspection and sampling program designed to verify compliance with this chapter of the code or any order issued hereunder or to protect the overall public health, safety and welfare of the community, then the authorized enforcement agency may seek issuance of a search warrant from any court of competent jurisdiction.
(Ord. 8970, passed 12-8-2008) Penalty, see § 10.99