(a) The City may, for good cause shown, suspend the wastewater treatment service and the wastewater discharge permit of a discharger when it appears to the City that an actual or threatened discharge presents or threatens an imminent or substantial danger to the health or welfare of persons or a substantial danger to the environment, interferes with the operation of the City's wastewater treatment works or violates any pretreatment limits imposed by these regulations or any wastewater discharge permit issued pursuant to these regulations. Any discharger notified of the suspension of the City's wastewater treatment service and/or the discharger's wastewater discharge permit 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. The City shall reinstate the wastewater discharge permit and/or the wastewater treatment service and terminate judicial proceedings pending proof by the discharger of the elimination of the noncomplying discharge or conditions creating the threat of imminent or substantial danger as set forth above.
(b) The City may revoke the permit of any discharger who or which:
(1) Fails to report factually the wastewater constituents and characteristics of its discharge;
(2) Fails to report significant changes in wastewater constituents or characteristics;
(3) Refuses reasonable access to the discharger's premises by representatives of the City for the purpose of inspection or monitoring; or
(4) Violates the conditions of these regulations or any final judicial order entered with respect thereto.
(c) Whenever the City finds that any discharger has engaged in conduct which justifies revocation of a wastewater discharge permit, pursuant to subsection (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 thirty days of the date of receipt of the notice, the discharger shall respond personally or in writing to the City, advising of its position with respect to the allegations. Thereafter, the parties shall meet to ascertain the veracity of the allegations and, where necessary, to establish a plan for the satisfactory correction thereof.
(d) Where a violation of subsection (b) hereof is not corrected by timely compliance by means of subsection (c) hereof, the City may order any discharger which causes or allows conduct prohibited by subsection (b) hereof to show cause before the City or its duly authorized representative why the proposed permit revocation action should not be taken. A written notice shall be served on the discharger by personal service, certified or registered, return receipt requested, specifying the time and place of a hearing to be held by the City or its designee regarding the violation, the reasons why the enforcement action is to be taken and the proposed enforcement action, and directing the discharger to show cause before the City or its designee why the proposed enforcement action should not be taken. The notice of the hearing shall be served not less than ten days before the hearing. Service may be made on any agent, officer or authorized representative of a discharger. The proceedings at the hearing shall be considered by the City, which shall then enter appropriate orders with respect to the alleged improper activities of the discharger. Appeal of such orders may be taken by the discharger in accordance with applicable local or State law.
(e) Following the entry of any order by the City with respect to the conduct of a discharger contrary to the provisions of division (b) of this section, the Law Director 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) The City shall develop, update as necessary and enforce local limits that will protect the POTW against interference and pass through. The City may develop BMPs and such BMPs shall be considered local limits and pretreatment standards for the purpose of this rule.
(g) At least annually, the City shall publish, in at least one newspaper of general circulation that provides meaningful public notice within the jurisdiction served by the POTW, 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 violation meets the criteria in paragraph (g)(3), (g)(4), or (g)(8) of this section. A significant industrial user is in significant noncompliance if its violation meets any of the following criteria:
(1) Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which sixty-six percent (66%) or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant at any permitted monitoring point during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits;
(2) Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which thirty-three percent (33%) or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter at any permitted monitoring point during a six-month period are equal to or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement including instantaneous limits, 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 or narrative standard) that the City determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interferences or pass through (including endangering the health of the City personnel or the general public);
(4) Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment of human health or welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the exercise of emergency authority of the wastewater treatment works 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 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 accurately report noncompliance; or
(8) Any other violation or group of violations, including a violation of BMPs, which the City determines will adversely affect or has adversely affected the operation or implementation of the City's pretreatment program.
(h) Any discharger or any 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 discharger and deals with matters of performance or compliance with these regulations or deals with a wastewater discharge permit issued pursuant hereto for which enforcement activity relating to an alleged violation is the subject, receipt of a discharger's request shall stay all enforcement proceedings pending receipt of the aforesaid written reply. An appeal of any final judicial order entered pursuant to these regulations may be taken in accordance with local and State law.
(Ord. 2014-164. Passed 10-6-14.)