(A) The city shall be permitted to enter and inspect facilities subject to regulation under this chapter as often as may be necessary to determine compliance with this chapter. If a facility operator has security measures in force which require proper identification and clearance before entry into its premises, the facility operator shall make the necessary arrangements to allow access to representatives of the city.
(B) Facility operators shall allow the city ready access to all parts of the premises for the purposes of inspection, sampling, examination and copying of records that must be kept under the conditions of an NPDES permit to discharge storm water, and the performance of any additional duties as defined by state and federal law.
(C) The city shall have the right to set up on any permitted facility such devices as are necessary in the opinion of the city to conduct monitoring and/or sampling of the facility’s storm water discharge.
(D) The city has the right to require the facility operator to install monitoring equipment as necessary. The facility’s sampling and monitoring equipment shall be installed and maintained by the facility operator’s own expense. The facility operator shall maintain the monitoring equipment at all times in a safe and proper operating condition. All devices used to measure storm water flow and quality shall be calibrated to ensure their accuracy.
(E) Any temporary or permanent obstruction to safe and easy access to the facility to be inspected and/or sampled shall be promptly removed by the facility operator at the written or oral request of the city and shall not be replaced. The costs of clearing such access shall be borne by the facility operator.
(F) Unreasonable delays, as determined by the City Sanitary District, in allowing the city access to a permitted facility is a violation of a storm water discharge permit and of this chapter. A facility operator with a NPDES permit to discharge storm water associated with industrial activity commits an offense if the facility operator denies the city reasonable access to the permitted facility for the purpose of conducting any activity authorized or required by this chapter.
(G) If the city has been refused access to any part of the premises from which storm water is discharged, and he or she is able to demonstrate probable cause to believe that there may be a violation of this chapter, or that there is a need to inspect and/or sample as part of a routine inspection and sampling program designed to verify compliance with this chapter or any order issued hereunder, or to protect the overall public health, safety and welfare of the community, then the city may seek issuance of a search warrant from any court of competent jurisdiction.
(Prior Code, § 56.12) Penalty, see § 56.999