(a) Notification of Violation. Whenever the Director finds that any industrial user has violated or is violating this chapter or a wastewater permit or order issued hereunder, the Director may serve upon said user written notice of the violation. Within ten days of the receipt date of this notice, an explanation of the violation and a plan for the satisfactory correction and prevention thereof, to include specific required actions, shall be submitted to the Director. Submission of this plan in no way relieves the user of liability for any violations occurring before or after receipt of the notice of violation.
(b) Show Cause Hearing. The Director may order any industrial user which causes or contributes to violation of this chapter or wastewater permit or order issued hereunder, to show cause why a proposed enforcement action should not be taken. Notice shall be served on the user specifying the time and place for the hearing, the proposed enforcement action and the reasons for such action, and a request that the user show cause why this proposed enforcement action should not be taken. The notice of the hearing shall be served personally or by registered or certified mail (return receipt requested) at least ten days prior to the hearing. Such notice may be served on any principal executive, general partner or corporate officer. Whether or not a duly notified industrial user appears as noticed, immediate enforcement action may be pursued.
(c) Administrative Order. When the Director finds that an industrial user has violated or continues to violate this chapter or a permit or order issued thereunder, he may issue an order to the industrial user responsible for the discharge directing that, following a specified time period, sewer service shall be discontinued unless adequate treatment facilities, devices, or other related appurtenances have been installed and are properly operated. Orders may also contain such other requirements as might be reasonably necessary and appropriate to address the noncompliance, including the installation of pretreatment technology, additional self-monitoring, and management practices.
(d) Emergency Suspensions. The Director may suspend the wastewater treatment service and/or wastewater permit of an industrial user whenever such suspension is necessary in order to stop an actual or threatened discharge presenting or causing an imminent or substantial endangerment to the health or welfare of persons, the POTW, or the environment.
Any user notified of an emergency suspension of the wastewater treatment service and/or the wastewater permit shall immediately stop or eliminate its contribution. In the event of a user's failure to immediately comply voluntarily with the suspension order, the Director shall take such steps as deemed necessary, including immediate severance of the sewer connection, to prevent or minimize damage to the POTW, its receiving stream, or endangerment to any individuals. The Director shall allow the user to recommence its discharge when the endangerment has passed, unless the termination proceedings set forth in subsection (e) hereof are initiated.
A detailed written statement shall be submitted by the user within fifteen days of the date of the occurrence, describing the causes of the harmful contribution and the measures taken to prevent any future occurrence.
(e) Termination of Permit. Any user who violates the following conditions of this chapter, or an industrial discharge permit or order, or any applicable state and federal law, is subject to permit termination:
(1) Violation of permit conditions;
(2) Failure to accurately report the wastewater constituents and characteristics of its discharge;
(3) Failure to report significant changes in operations or wastewater constituents and characteristics;
(4) Refusal of reasonable access to the user's premises for the purpose of inspection, monitoring, or sampling.
Noncompliant industrial users shall be notified of the proposed termination of their discharge permit and be offered an opportunity to show cause under subsection (b) hereof why the proposed action should not be taken.
(f) Annual Publication. At least annually, the Director shall publish a list of all industrial users which at any time during the previous twelve months were in significant noncompliance with applicable pretreatment requirements. For the purposes of this provision, an industrial user is in significant noncompliance if its violations meet one or more of the following criteria:
(1) Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits (applies only to SIUs), defined here as those in which sixty-six percent or more of all of the measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) an instantaneous limit, the daily maximum limit, or the average limit for the same pollutant parameter;
(2) Technical review criteria (TRC) violations (applies only to SIUs), defined here as those in which thirty-three percent or more of all of the measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of an instantaneous limit, the daily maximum limit, or the average limit multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC=1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);
(3) Any other violation of a pretreatment effluent limit (daily maximum or longer term average) that the Director determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through (including endangering the health of POTW personnel or the general public);
(4) Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the POTW's exercise of emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;
(5) Any violation of an established BMP that adversely affects the operation of the POTW or implementation of the pretreatment program;
(6) Failure to meet, within ninety days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a wastewater discharge permit or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;
(7) Failure to provide, within forty-five days after the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, initial compliance reports, periodic self- monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
(8) Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
(9) Any other violation or group of violations which the Director determines will or has adversely affected the operation or implementation of the City's pretreatment program.
(Ord. 175-91. Passed 7-8-91; Ord. 158-13. Passed 8-5-13; Ord. 57-14. Passed 2-24-14; Ord. 246-21. Passed 10-25-21.)