(a) In enforcing the provisions of these regulations, the Waste Water Superintendent, City Engineer or his/her duly authorized representative, bearing proper credentials and identification, may at any reasonable hour, after obtaining appropriate consent from the owner or lessee, enter upon any premises for the purposes of inspection, monitoring, observation, measurement, sampling and testing pertinent to discharge to the wastewater treatment works in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. No person shall obstruct, hamper or interfere with him/her while performing these duties. The Superintendent may enter such property to:
(1) Determine the size, depth and location of any connection with a public sewer or public storm drain;
(2) Determine the quantity and nature of industrial waste being discharged into any public sewer, public storm drain or watercourse;
(3) Inspect, test, monitor and/or sample the discharge of any device used to prevent the discharge into any sewer, storm drain or watercourse of waste prohibited by this chapter;
(4) Determine the location of roof, swimming pool and surface drains and whether they are connected to a street gutter, storm drain or sewer;
(5) Determine the nature and quantity of flow in any open watercourse or storm drain;
(6) Exercise any other powers vested in him/her by this section.
(b) Authorized employees of the City are authorized to obtain information concerning industrial or commercial processes which has a direct bearing on the kind and source of discharge to the wastewater treatment works. The City shall provide assurance that any trade secret information will be kept confidential; otherwise, the owner may withhold process information considered confidential. The owner must establish that the revelation to the public of the information in question might result in an advantage to competitors.
(c) The Superintendent is hereby authorized to make and enforce such rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper with respect to or to provide for:
(1) The safe, economical and efficient management and protection of the public sanitary facilities and appurtenances in order to assure compliance with the most recent NPDES permit for the POTW;
(2) The treatment, pumping and disposal of wastewater, wastes, storm waters and any pumping, transmission or facilities therefor;
(3) The construction, repair, maintenance and use of the public sewer system, facilities, appurtenances and connections thereto, including the materials used in and methods employed in the performance of work pertaining thereto;
(4) Such applications, permits, bonds and other forms or documents as may be necessary or convenient to the discharge of his or her duties and responsibilities with respect to the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter pertaining to the subject matter hereof.
Such rules and regulations, when approved by Council, shall be enforced to the same extent as the provisions of this code or other legislation enacted by Council and violations thereof shall be punished as provided in Section 1046.99.
(d) The Superintendent or City Engineer shall cause to be made periodic visual outside inspections of all properties within the City, with specific attention to downspouts, roof drains and other visible outside connections and shall request the property owner or property occupant to permit entry into the premises for the making of additional inspection of the premises to ascertain if illegal connections are observed, and will advise on the matter of corrections for compliance with the provisions of this ordinance. If corrections are to be made, the City will make further inspection of the corrections to insure compliance with this code.
(e) If entrance to property is denied an employee or agent of the City, the Superintendent or City Engineer, in lieu of obtaining a search warrant, may serve notice requiring, within a period of thirty days, a written affidavit by a licensed professional engineer stating that the sanitary sewer system of the subject property complies in all respects to the requirements and specifications of this code and that no storm water, surface water, ground water, roof runoff water, sub-surface drainage, runoff water from ground or paved areas, cistern overflow or water from air-conditioning systems, industrial cooling operations, or any flows other than wastewater are discharged into the sanitary sewer system from the subject property. Said affidavit shall be accompanied with all necessary backup documentation in support thereof which verifies the conclusions contained in the affidavit. In the event the property owner fails to provide the aforementioned affidavit within thirty days, the Superintendent shall commence action to terminate sanitary sewer service to the property remaining in non-compliance.
(f) In the event any property is in non-compliance with the provisions of this section after the thirty-day notice, that property shall be deemed continuing in non-compliance until there is paid to the City a sum in United States currency equal to all costs incurred by the City, including but not limited to clerical costs, mailing costs, service fees, attorneys fees, court costs, and all other reasonable fees and expenses incurred in commencing action to terminate the sanitary sewer service to the property or in terminating or restoring sanitary sewer service to the property in non-compliance.
(g) In addition to visual inspections on the outside and inside of the premises, the City may make other lawful tests and inspections of the sanitary sewer system as it deems necessary in order to locate such illegal connections and sources of extraneous flows as may exist. The City, at its option, may also invoke other legal powers vested in it or implied by City, County, State and Federal regulations and statutes for the protection of the health and welfare of the public, and institute such legal action as it deems necessary to discover and order the disconnection of any illegal or inappropriate connections that may exist.
(h) The City reserves the right to inspect any sewer contributing flow to the City sanitary or storm collection system suspected of being in or with the potential of being in violation of these regulations. The inspection shall be made after proper notification to the potential violating entity. If the subject entity is determined to be in violation of proper maintenance, the cost of the inspection shall be borne by the violating entity. The City shall notify the subject entity that they are in violation of proper maintenance and shall further stipulate a reasonable time period for correcting the violation.
(i) The Superintendent or City Engineer may inspect, as often as he/she may deem necessary, every public sewer, sewage treatment plant, sewage or industrial waste treatment plant or facility, industrial connection sewer, interceptor, dilution basin, neutralization basin, or other similar appurtenance to ascertain whether the facilities are maintained and operated in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(j) The Superintendent or City Engineer may require, at the owner's expense, the installation of an inspection manhole for the purpose of measuring the flow of sewage or for making periodic tests of the wastes from the sewer connection.
(k) No person shall install, construct or place any permanent or temporary material, object or structure where it will interfere with ready and easy access to any pretreatment or treatment facility, sampling compartment, manhole, flow metering device or any instrumentality for which a permit is required by this section. Any obstruction shall be removed upon order of the Superintendent by the owner or the person responsible for it and at no expense to the City. The owner may be held responsible for costs incurred by the City and, as well, may be cited for violation of City Ordinance.
(l) When the Superintendent or City Engineer is satisfied that all work done under a permit issued pursuant to this chapter has been constructed according to and meets the requirements of this chapter and such request thereof, issue to the permittee constructing such work a certificate of final inspection. The permit shall recite that the work covered by the permit has been constructed according to this section and is approved.
(m) When the Superintendent or City Engineer is satisfied that all work done to rectify a violation is completed, he or she shall reserve the right to inspect the work to see that it conforms to the requirements of this chapter and other such provisions of law as may be applicable.
(Ord. 09-119. Passed 11-17-09.)