(A) Discontinuation of service. When an actual or threatened discharge presents a substantial danger to the health of persons or the environment, interferes with the operation of the wastewater system or violates any provision of these regulations, the department may discontinue wastewater treatment service or take any other lawful means to effect the abatement of any danger.
(B) Notification of violation. Whenever the department finds that any user has violated any provision of these regulations, the engineer shall notify the user stating the nature of the alleged violation. If a user who has been notified to cease wastewater discharges fails to comply within the time specified by the engineer, the department shall discontinue wastewater treatment service by suspending water service or other appropriate means.
(C) Show cause hearing. After receipt of notification to cease wastewater discharges or to abate any substantial danger to the health of persons or the environment, the user has the right to request a hearing before the department. If a hearing is requested, the department shall serve the user with a written notice specifying the time and place of the hearing.
(D) Right of appeal.
(1) Any decision rendered by the department can be appealed in writing within 15 days to the Health Officer. The written request shall state the reasons for the appeal and specify what remedies are sought.
(2) The Health Officer shall, within ten days after receipt of the written appeal notice, hold a hearing and decide the question. The hearing shall include testimony from all concerned persons. The Health Officer shall render a written decision within five days after completion of the hearing.
(3) Within 15 days of receipt of the Health Officer's decision, the user may appeal to the Board of Health of the city. The written appeal notice shall be directed to the Health Officer who shall promptly transmit the appeal to the Board of Health. Upon giving not less than five business days' written notice to the appellant, a hearing shall be held before the Board of Health. After the hearing, the Board may, by a majority vote, affirm, reject or modify the decision of the Health Officer. The decision of the Board shall be made in writing within seven business days after the hearing and shall be final, except that further recourse may be had through statutory procedures.
(E) Reinstatement of service. Prior to reinstatement of wastewater treatment service, all cost and expense incident to the city's discontinuation of service shall be borne by the user. The department shall reinstate service upon proof acceptable to the city that the noncomplying discharge condition has been eliminated.
(F) Termination of service. The department may terminate wastewater treatment service to any user who fails to do the following:
(1) Report the wastewater constituents and characteristics of his or her discharge requested by the engineer.
(2) Permit reasonable access to his or her premises by department personnel for the purpose of inspection or monitoring.
(3) Comply with any provision of these regulations.
(4) Comply with the conditions of any order issued by city, state or federal officials with respect to these regulations.
(G) Annual publication. Annually the engineer shall publish a list of all dischargers or significant industrial users which at any time during the previous 12 months were in significant noncompliance with applicable pretreatment requirements. For the purpose 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 taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) the daily maximum limit or the average limit for the same pollutant parameter.
(2) Technical Review Criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which 33% or more of all the measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of 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). Chronic and technical review criteria apply to SIUs but other SNC criteria can be grounds for finding a non-SIU in SNC. The chronic and technical review criteria are clarified as being applicable to each of an SIU’s permitted monitoring points. The chronic and technical review criteria apply to violations of instantaneous limits. Violations of instantaneous limits or narrative standards that cause pass-through or interference are SNC. SNC criterion for violations that adversely affect the operation or iimplementation of the pretreatemtn program include violations of BMPs.
(3) Any other violations of a pretreatment effluent limit (daily maximum or longer term average) that the engineer determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or passthrough (including endangering the health of 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 to halt or prevent such a discharge.
(5) Failure to meet, within 90 days after the schedule data, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a wastewater discharge permit 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 report noncompliance.
(8) Any other violation or group of violations which the engineer determines will or has adversely affected the operation or implementation of the city's pretreatment program.
(H) Schedules of compliance. When, in the opinion of the Superintendent, it is necessary for industrial users to install technology or provide additional operation and maintenance (O and M) to meet any condition of this chapter, the Superintendent shall require the development of the shortest schedule by which the industrial user will provide this additional technology or O and M.
(1) The schedule shall contain increments of progress in the form of dates for the commencement and completion of major events. Under no circumstances shall any increment exceed nine months.
(2) Not later than 14 days following each date in the schedule and the final date for compliance, the industrial user shall submit a progress report to the engineer including, at a minimum, whether or not it complied with the increment of progress to be met on that date and, if not, the date on which it expects to comply with the increment of progress, the reason for delay and the steps being taken by the industrial user to return to the schedule established.
(I) Remedies non-exclusive. The remedies provided for in this chapter are not exclusive. The Superintendent may take any, all, or any combination of these actions against a noncompliant user. The city is authorized to develop and implement an enforcement response plan, which is titled “City of Piqua Industrial Pretreatment Enforcement Procedures,” which is available at the wastewater treatment plant. Enforcement of pretreatment violations will generally be in accordance with the city’s enforcement response plan. However, the Superintendent may take other action against any user when the circumstances warrant. Further, the Superintendent is empowered to take more than one enforcement action against any noncompliant user.
(‘97 Code, § 51.18) (Ord. 35-84, passed 8-20-84; Am. Ord. 5-90, passed 1-15-90; Am. Ord. 54-91, passed 11-18-91; Am. Ord. 9-93, passed 2-15-93; Am. Ord. 4-09, passed 4-20-09; Am. Ord. 21-12, passed 10-16-12; Am. Ord. 3-19, passed 6-4-19; Am. Ord. 10-22, passed 11-1-22)