(a) Emergency Suspension of Service and Contribution Permits.
(1) The City shall have the legal authority and procedures via the City’s Enforcement Response Plan (ERP) to immediately and effectively halt or prevent any discharge of pollutants into the City's wastewater collection and treatment facilities which reasonably appears to present an imminent endangerment to the health or welfare of persons. The City shall also have the authority and procedures (which shall include notice to the affected industrial users and an opportunity to respond) to halt or prevent any discharge to the treatment facilities which presents or may present an endangerment to the environment or which threatens to interfere with the operation of the treatment facilities.
(2) Any user notified of a suspension of wastewater treatment service and/or the wastewater contribution permit shall immediately stop or eliminate the contribution. In the event of a failure of the user to comply voluntarily with the suspension order, the City shall take such steps as are deemed necessary, including immediate severance of the sewer connection, to prevent or minimize damage to the City's wastewater collection and treatment facilities or endangerment to any individuals. The City shall reinstate the wastewater contribution permit and/or the wastewater treatment service upon proof of the elimination of the noncomplying discharge. A detailed written statement submitted by the user describing the causes of the harmful contribution and the measures taken to prevent any future occurrence shall be submitted to the Public Works & Utilities Director within 15 days of the date of occurrence.
(b) Revocation of Permit. Any user who violates applicable City, State or Federal pretreatment regulations, is subject to have its permit revoked for any cause deemed appropriate by the City, including, but not limited to, the following reasons:
(1) Failure of a user to factually report the wastewater constituents and characteristics of its discharge;
(2) Failure of the user to report significant changes in operation, or wastewater constituents and characteristics;
(3) Refusal of 24 hour/7 day per week access to the user's premises for the purpose of inspection or monitoring; or
(4) Falsifying self-monitoring reports and certification statements;
(5) Tampering with monitoring equipment;
(6) Failure to meet effluent limitations;
(7) Failure to pay fines or sewer charges;
(8) Material violation of conditions of the permit.
(c) Termination of Service. Any user having its discharge permit revoked or any user who would be required by these regulations to obtain such a permit and fails to do so, shall have its sewer service terminated without notice if the user knowingly operates for 30 days without such discharge permit in force.
(d) Notification of Violations. Whenever the City finds, or has reason to believe, that any user has violated or is violating these regulations, the wastewater contribution permit, or any prohibition, limitation or requirements contained herein, the City shall serve upon such person a written notice stating the nature or suspected nature of the violation. Within 30 days of the date of the notice, a plan for the satisfactory correction thereof shall be submitted to the Public Works & Utilities Director by the user. Nonetheless, the City reserves the right to modify or terminate any user’s permit, without notice, at any time and for any reason deemed to be in the City's best interest.
(e) Administrative Orders.
(1) Any user who operates without a discharge permit or is in continuing significant noncompliance with a current discharge permit shall be subject to administrative orders. These, at the discretion of the Director, may include any or all of the following administrative remedies:
A. Compliance schedule. A schedule issued by the City outlining progressive steps to achieve compliance.
B. Cease and desist order. An order requiring immediate action to halt a non- complying discharge.
C. Administrative fine. Authority to seek or assess a minimum penalty of at least one thousand dollars ($1,000) per permit violation per day.
D. Show cause hearing. The City may order a user which has violated or continues to violate any provision of Chapter 1041, its City discharge permit or order issued hereunder, or any other pretreatment standard or requirement, to appear before the City Manager to show cause why the proposed enforcement action should not be taken. A notice shall be served on the user specifying the time and place of a hearing to be held by the City Manager regarding the violation, the reasons why the action is to be taken, and the proposed enforcement action, and directing the user to show cause before the City Manager 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. The City Manager may conduct the hearing and take the evidence, or may designate any employee of the Department of Public Works & Utilities to:
1. Issue, in the name of the City Manager, notices of hearings requesting the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence relevant to any matter involved in such hearings.
2. Take the evidence.
3. Transmit a report of the evidence and hearing transcripts with other evidence, together with recommendations, to the City Manager for action thereon.
(2) At any hearing held pursuant to these regulations, testimony taken must be under oath and recorded stenographically or digitally. The transcript, so recorded, will be made available to any member of the public or any party to the hearing upon payment of the usual charges thereof.
(3) After the City Manager has reviewed the evidence, they may issue an order to the user 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 including temporary or permanent termination of service.
(f) Legal Action. If any user discharges sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes into the City's wastewater collection and treatment facilities contrary to the provisions of these regulations, Federal or State pretreatment requirements, or any order of the City, the City Law Director may commence an action for appropriate legal and/or equitable relief before or after termination of service.
(g) Enforcement Actions; Annual Publication. The Public Works & Utilities Director shall publish, prior to February 1 of each year, 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, defined herein as those in which 66% or more of all of the measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric Pretreatment Standard or Requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 C.F.R. 403.3(1);
(2) Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined herein as those in which 33% or more of all of the measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric Pretreatment Standard or Requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 C.F.R. 403.3(l) 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 Standard or Requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 C.F.R. 403.3(l) (daily maximum or longer term average, instantaneous limit or narrative standard) that the Public Works & Utilities Director determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interferences, or pass through (including endangering the health of the POTW personnel or the general public);
(4) Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment of human health, welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the POTW's exercise of emergency authority under 40 C.F.R. 403.8(f)(1)(vi)(B) 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, 90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
(7) Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
(8) Any other violation or group of violations which may include a violation of Best Management Practices, which the Public Works & Utilities Director determines will affect or has adversely affected the operation or implementation of the City's pretreatment program.
(h) Right of Appeal. Any user or interested party shall have the right to request in writing an interpretation or ruling by the City on any matter covered by these regulations, and shall be entitled to a prompt written reply. In the event that such inquiry is by a user and deals with matters of performance or compliance with these regulations or deals with a wastewater contribution permit issued pursuant hereto for which enforcement activity relating to an alleged violation is the subject, receipt of a user's request shall stay all enforcement proceedings pending receipt of the aforesaid written reply. Appeal of any final administrative order or judicial order entered pursuant to this chapter may be taken in accordance with local and State law.
(Ord. O91-24, passed 4-2-1991; Am. Ord. O2016-65, passed 12-6-2016; Am. Ord. O2021-22, passed 3-16-2021.)