(a) Emergency suspension of service and discharge permits. The city may for good cause shown suspend wastewater treatment service and/or a wastewater discharge permit to a discharger when it appears to the city that an actual or threatened discharge presents an imminent or substantial danger to the health or welfare of persons, substantial danger to the environment, interference with the operation of the POTW or violation of any pretreatment limits imposed by this chapter. Any discharger notified of the suspension of the city’s wastewater treatment service shall, within a reasonable period of time as determined by the city, cease all discharges. In the event of failure of the discharger to comply voluntarily with the suspension order within the specified time, the city shall commence judicial proceedings immediately thereafter to compel the discharger’s compliance with such order.
(b) Revocation of permit. The city may terminate wastewater treatment service and/or a wastewater discharge permit for any discharger who fails to:
(1) Factually report the wastewater constituents and characteristics of its discharge;
(2) Report significant changes in wastewater constituents or character-istics; or
(3) Permit reasonable access to the discharger’s premises by representa-tives of the city for the purpose of inspection or monitoring; or who violates the conditions of this chapter, or any final judicial order entered with respect thereto.
(c) Notification of violation; administrative adjustment. Whenever the city finds that any discharger has engaged in conduct which justifies termination of wastewater treatment service, pursuant to division (a) or (b) hereof, the city shall serve or cause to be served upon such discharger, a written notice either personally, or by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, stating the nature of the alleged violation. Within 30 days of the date of receipt of the notice, the discharger shall respond in writing to the city, advising of its position with respect to the allegations. Within ten days of the response of the discharger, the parties shall meet to ascertain the veracity of the allegations and, where necessary, establish a plan for the satisfactory correction thereof.
(d) Show cause hearing.
(1) The city may order any industrial discharger who causes or allows an unauthorized discharge to enter the POTW to show cause before Council why the proposed enforcement action should not be taken. A notice shall be served on the industrial discharger specifying the time and place of a hearing to be held by Council regarding the violation, the reasons why the action is to be taken, the proposed enforcement action, and directing the industrial discharger to show cause before Council why the 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 before the hearing. Service may be made on any agent or officer of a corporation.
(2) Council may itself conduct the hearing and take the evidence, or may designate any of its members or any officer or employee of the city to:
A. Issue in the name of Council notices of hearings requesting the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence relevant to any matter involved in such hearings;
B. Take the evidence;
C. Transmit a report of the evidence and hearing, including transcripts and other evidence, together with recommendations to Council for action thereon.
(3) At any hearing held pursuant to this chapter, testimony taken shall be under oath and the hearing shall be recorded in the same manner as all public meetings of Council. Any person requesting a transcript of such hearing shall pay the cost thereof.
(4) After Council has reviewed the evidence, and within 30 days of the date of the hearing, it may issue an order to the industrial discharger responsible for the discharge directing that, following a specified time period, the sewer service be discontinued unless adequate treatment facilities, devices or other related appurtenances shall have been installed or existing treatment facilities, devices or other related appurtenances are properly operated. Further orders and directives as are necessary and appropriate may be issued.
(e) Judicial proceedings. Following the entry of any order by the city with respect to the conduct of a discharger contrary to the provisions of this chapter, the Law Director for the city may, following the authorization of such action by the city, commence an action for appropriate legal and/or equitable relief in the appropriate local court.
(f) Enforcement actions; annual publication. At least annually, the Director shall publish a list of all industrial users which at any time during the previous 12 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, defined here as those in which 66% or more of all of the measurements for the same pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits as defined in this chapter;
(2) TECHNICAL REVIEW CRITERIA (TRC) VIOLATIONS, defined here as those in which 33% or more of wastewater measurements taken for each pollutant parameter during a six-month period equals or exceeds the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by this chapter multiplied by the applicable criteria (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 standard or requirement as defined by 40 C.F.R. § 403.3(1) (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) the POTW 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) Failure to meet, within 90 days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;
(6) Failure to provide, within 45 days after the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, reports on compliance with categorical pretreatment standard deadlines, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on adherence to compliance schedules;
(7) Failure to accurately report noncompliance; or
(8) Any other violation(s) which the POTW determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
(g) Right of appeal. Any discharger or any interested party subject to or affected by an order or decision of the Director or the city based on the provisions of this chapter may appeal such order or decision within 20 days of such order or decision by filing with the Director a written notice of appeal specifying the grounds upon which the appeal is being taken. Such appeal shall be heard by Council no sooner than ten days after its filing at the next regularly scheduled Council meeting. Each appeal shall be accompanied by the same fee as required to file an appeal with the Zoning, Housing and Building Appeals Board.
(h) Operation upsets.
(1) Any discharger who experiences an upset in operations which places the discharger in a temporary state of noncompliance with this chapter shall inform the Director thereof within 24 hours of first awareness of the commencement of the upset. Where such information is given orally, a written follow-up report thereof shall be filed by the discharger with the city within five days. The report shall specify:
A. Description of the upset, the cause thereof, and the upset’s impact on a discharger’s compliance status;
B. Duration of noncompliance, including exact dates and times of noncompliance and, if the noncompliance continues, the time by which compliance is reasonably expected to occur; and
C. All steps taken or to be taken to reduce, eliminate and prevent recurrence of such upset or other conditions of noncompliance.
(2) A documented and verified bonafide operating upset shall be an affirmative defense to any enforcement action brought by the city against a discharger for any noncompliance with this chapter which arises out of violations alleged to have occurred during the period of the upset.
(i) Schedule of compliances.
(1) Where additional pretreatment and/or operation and maintenance activities shall be required to comply with this chapter, the city may require as a binding and enforceable agreement a declaration of the shortest schedule by which the discharger will provide such additional pretreatment and/or implementation of additional operational and maintenance activities. The completion date in this schedule shall not be later than the compliance date established for the applicable categorical pretreatment standard.
(2) The following conditions shall apply to this schedule:
A. The schedule shall contain completion dates for the commencement and completion of major events leading to the construction and operation of additional pretreatment required for the discharger to comply with the requirements of this chapter including, but not limited to, dates relating to hiring an engineer, hiring other appropriate personnel, completing preliminary plans, completing final plans, executing contracts for major components, commencing construction, completing construction, and all other acts necessary to achieve compliance with this chapter.
B. Under no circumstances shall the Director permit a time increment for any single step directed toward compliance which exceeds nine months.
C. Not later than 14 days following each completion date in the schedule and the final date for compliance, the discharger shall submit a progress report to the Director, including no less than a statement as to whether or not it complied with the increment of progress represented by that completion date and, if not, the date on which it expects to comply with this increment of progress, the reason for delay, and the steps being taken by the discharger to return the construction to the approved schedule. In no event shall more than nine months elapse between such progress reports to the Director.
(Ord. 93-17, passed 2-22-1993; Ord. 2012-63, passed 9-10-2012; Ord. 2015-22, passed 2-23-2015)